Pressure loss Associated with Compressible flow through Square-Mesh wire Gauzes

The body of previous literature relating to the pressure loss characteristics of woven wire gauzes fails to provide adequate information on the separate effects of Reynolds number and Mach number in the range of usual interest for duct flow experiments. For this reason, tests have been carried out on a selection of eight single gauzes placed normal to the axis of a duct, of sizes (wire diameter and mesh) such as might be commonly used to give values of porosity between 0·3 and 0·7. Pressure loss measurements were carefully made, and covered independently duct Mach numbers up to choking and a 50-fold range of Reynolds number. The test data are presented so as to provide a single relation between the incompressible loss factor and a form of Reynolds number, plus a compressibility correction which depends on gauze porosity.