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During summer 2010 I had the pleasure of working on the Stacked Rapid Sand Filtration team. I assisted in successfully building a bench scale model of our filterof the stacked filter, controling the influent raw water turbidity and keeping it as consistent as possible, running several experiments of varied parameters, and backwashing the system by sequentially fluidizing individual sand layers. I also contributed in conducting a performance comparison to a conventional single layer filter system of the same depth as an individual layer of our stacked filtration system (20 cm), and in adding pressure sensors to the apparatus to provide a more complete comparison. The original apparatus consisted of four filter layers in a white 4" I.D. PVC pipe, and I assisted in replacing it right before the Fall semester with a clear PVC pipe of the same diameter but with six filter layers.
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