Numerical and experimental investigations of the influence of the pleat geometry on the pressure drop and velocity field of a pleated fibrous filter

The aim of this study is to combine numerical and experimental approaches to evaluate the influence of pleat geometrical parameters on the pressure drop and air velocity field at the vicinity of pleated fibrous filters. For a given filter, three different geometrical pleat configurations (with various pleat heights and widths) are investigated at similar filtration velocities. Numerical simulations are validated based on experimental measurements in terms of pressure drop versus filtration velocity, and enable the influence of the filter geometry on the air flow pattern in its vicinity to be investigated. The influence of filter geometry on the pressure drop is evaluated from experiments carried out in a lab-scale air handling unit. For this purpose, pleated filter prototypes were designed in the laboratory. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.