1996 Volume 36 Issue 1 Pages 52-60
Numerical fluid flow predictions were compared with experimental flow measurements and visualization for a water model of a novel of a novel thin-strip planar-flow delivery system. The proposed slot-type planar-flow delivery system could contain a porous flow modifier and features an extended-reservoir delivery to the substrate. The experiments were carried out with water in a plexiglass model with and without the presence of ceramic foam filters. Flow visualization and velocity measurements downstream from the filter zone showed that the latter had beneficial effects in suppressing the recirculatory flow and supplying fluid of uniform velocity to the substrate. A steady, two-dimensional fluid dynamics model was developed to predict and supplement the experimental studies. This numerical model is based on the use of the Brinkman-Forchheimer extended-Darcy model in the porous filter medium and the Navier-Stokes equation in the fluid region. These two flows are coupled through the interface boundary conditions at the porous-media-fluid interface. Solutions of the coupled governing equations for the complex media and fluid regions were performed using a control-volume, finite-difference technique. The results were grid independent and converged within 2000 iterations and 30 min on an IBM 486. Comparison of measured fluid velocities at representative locations downstream of the filter zone showed good agreement with predicted velocities.
