Metal woven wire cloth feeding system for gas bearings

The paper presents an experimental investigation of pneumatic resistances constructed using woven wire cloth. Tests were carried out on commercial Touraille stainless steel wire cloth featuring different mesh sizes.Two types of experiments were performed: (a) Mass flow rate through single resistances was measured with different upstream and downstream pressures and wire mesh sizes. (b) Pressure distribution and mass flow rate were measured on a pneumatic pad with a fine wire mesh feeding system. Two approaches of identification of the single resistances are discussed.Test results can be used as the basis for developing woven wire cloth pneumatic resistances whose conductance is equivalent to that of certain of the calibrated orifices normally used in gas bearings.