Abstract
Our project studied the pressure drop across a packed bed and compared the data to the analytical solution governed by Ergun’s equation (Ergun, 1952). Different types of material and varying airflow rates were used to effect the range of our Reynolds number and subsequent pressure drop. We found that there is a significant relationship between pressure, frictional factor and Reynolds number with respect to flow rate and inlet pressure. We used the change in pressure to determine two constants (k1 and k2) that were then compared to Ergun’s equation. In the end we discovered that our experimental data was close to Ergun’s within 20%.