Rain Simulation Testing

The design for the "Rain Simulation" altered again during our trip for materials at Home Depot. While there we found a screen that could be double layered and felt that it would work sufficiently as water "filter" to simulate rain instead of just pouring water. Here were a few of the methods we tested:

The Very Initial Design (Cheese Cloth as a Barrier)

Cheese cloth between the layers of screen.
Note: The entire screen was not covered in this test, but was later on.

As seen in the video, the cheese cloth did not give an even distribution of water as it fell. In other tests with cheese cloth it was too absorbent and did allow enough water to fall through at once.

Using Only the Screen

Screen purchased from Home Depot to use in rain simulation.

In our opinion this method worked better than the cheese cloth. While the water was still not as distributed as we would have liked, it offered a better solution. 

Using Weed Block

Originally we bought weed block to line the bins so the soil would not be directly on its plastic container. As the rain simulating testing continued we tried to see what other materials were available, and weed block was one. We decided to try it because we felt it was thick enough to keep the water from being a constant stream.

Weed block between the layers of screen.

                                      

The weed block was by far the material that distributed the water the best. There were still some larger streams of water, but relative to the other materials they were much smaller. Weed block was also the only material that showed improvement by seeing "drops" of water come off of the screen. We thought we might be able to adjust this by pouring the water from a greater height.

                                     

The screen at a higher point above the container did have more "drop-like" water effects. As of right now, the weed block will be the material to use between the layer of screens.

Issues/Problems

1. The screen tended to droop in the center which was also a cause of a water stream instead of droplets. This effect can be seen with all three test cases which is why it was not a fault with one in particular.
2. The method of pouring water was also not the best it could be. We are looking into a material that could sit on the outer layer of the screen initially. This outer layer would pool the water until removed. When removed, the simulated rain can fall in all places at once rather than directly under where we are pouring. 
3. The height of the screen should stay consistent, therefore a structure may be built to keep the screen at a designated distance from the top of the container.