Experimental study of pressure drop in porous structures created on the basis of Kelvin cells

In this work, we carried out the experimental studies of the pressure drop in porous structures created on the basis of Kelvin cells. The cross sections of the struts of porous structures had the following geometries: circle, triangle, and spinner. The equivalent diameter of the struts was 5, 10, 15, and 20% of 3 mm, where 3 mm is the length of the edge of the cube into which the cell is inscribed. At the same time, several models of porous structures had narrowing in the struts. Experimental studies were carried out at the following air flow velocities: 0.25; 0.5; 0.75; 1 and 1.25 m/s. The research results showed that with an equivalent strut diameter of 5, 10, and 15% of the length of the edge of the cube in which the cell is inscribed, the largest pressure drop at all studied air flow velocities is observed in porous structures with a circular cross section of the struts, without narrowing. With an equivalent strut diameter of 10, 15, 20% of the length of the cube edge, the smallest pressure drop is shown by cells with a circular cross section of the struts, with a narrowing. With an equivalent strut diameter of 20%, the structure with strut geometry in the form of a spinner showed the highest pressure drop. Thus, the geometry of struts of porous structures has a significant effect on the value of the pressure drop.