Figure 2
Exploded view of the SMP foam chamber (A) and assembled MEC chamber (B). The arrows in (A) indicate how the components were assembled. A 3-D gasket was fabricated and used to ensure the SMP foam chamber was water tight, and O-ring grooves were machined in the lumen of the chamber to aid in the repeatable alignment of the sample holders and sealing of the pressure ports. For the MEC chamber, a constricting nozzle was implemented in its design to provide a smooth transition from the 20E-3 m diameter tubing to the 6E-3 m diameter of the chamber lumen. A coarse mesh (stainless steel 316, 0.25E-3 m wire diameter, 2.3E-6 m2 squares) was installed downstream of the packed MECs to hold them in place during the testing procedure.