Vertical and Inclined Plane Design Test

Testing

The first design we tested was the vertical/inclined plane. See the image below for a diagram of the setup. We used a 5cm-wide, 60cm-long steel plate to test the effectiveness of this plan to reduce water aeration. We were looking at the amount of bubbles formed under the LFOM to determine results, and documented them photographically, as displayed in the gallery below.

Results and Discussion

Unfortunately, we determined visually that there was very little, if any, change in the amount of bubbles formed before and after inserting the steel plate into the LFOM. Even at various angles of inclination, the amount of bubbles formed was the same. We believe it was ineffective for two reasons. First, the spread of orifices wraps around the pipe far enough that the jets of water at the edge do not touch the steel plate. Second, the water jets are flowing fast enough that the water simply ricochets off the steel plate, instead of running down the plate as intended. Look below for a photo illustrating our results.