Filter Constrictions

Filter Constrictions

Current & Future Research

The goal of the Filter Constrictions Team was to test the hypothesis that particles are captured preferentially at flow restrictions in sand filters. There was evidence for this hypothesis from work done by the Milli-Sedimentation Team of Fall 2016 and the Stacked Rapid Sand (StaRS) Filter Theory Team. The goal of the team was to create a flow constriction in a small, ~0.5 mm, channel in a flow cell reactor, and take a video of the particles at the constriction. The video was taken using the camera system designed by AguaClara PhD students, and provided evidence for or against the hypothesis that flow constrictions serve as particle collection sites. The team built the reactor and showed that flocs indeed were removed at constrictions. More research is needed to show the exact mechanism for this removal to confirm our hypothesis.