Lateral flow through a membrane and along backing support to a collector

The flow to a peripheral collector through a sandwich formed by a membrane backed by a porous support has been analyzed for simple geometries by Gollan and Dagan [1]. Their results are restated in terms of a single property of the membrane and a single one of the support. These are the conventional permeability of the membrane and the resistivity of the support to flow along its length. Both are experimentally determinable. A simple method of determining this resistivity of the support is suggested at the end of this paper. The expressions for calculating the total flow through rectangular and circular sandwiches of known dimensions are presented in both analytical and graphical form and some of the limitations of these expressions are discussed.