Gerona, España
Lérida, España
Filtration is a necessary operation to prevent emitter clogging in micro irrigation. Granular matrix filters usually show the best performance in solid removal. In this work, two granular materials (silica sand and crushed recycled glass); both with two particle sizes (0.63 to 0.75 mm and 0.75 to 0.84 mm) and also an additional size for glass (0.85-1.50 mm) have been characterized. The experiments were carried out using tap water and a laboratory filter which was scaled from the geometry and the operating range of a commercial filter. Five pressure gauges were placed in the filter: one at the inlet pipe, three along the column of granular media, and the last one at the outlet pipe. The pressure along the filter was measured using these gauges allowing computing the pressure drop for the whole filter and across the filtration medium. No important differences in the hydraulic behavior of the two materials were found, but in both cases it was observed that between 60 and 70% of the pressure drop was caused by the underdrain located at the bottom of the column of granular material. To further analyze the head loss, a three dimension model of the scaled filter was developed by computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The characteristic parameters of the different filter media were determined with the experimental results. The pressure drop simulated with CFD showed good agreement with the experimental values. Lastly, simulation results allowed finding those points where the pressure drop was greater. This information will help for designing new filter underdrain components that will reduce head loss and energy costs.
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