Papermaking is an energy-intensive industrial process. Enhanced mechanical dewatering reduces the energy demand for thermal drying. In the press section, the removal of water from the paper web is governed by its interaction with compressible press felts composed of polyamide fibers. Pressure promotes drainage into the felt; however, the elastic recovery after the press impulse results in rewetting of the paper web. Despite the comprehensive characterization of press felt structures, the flow mechanisms at the pore level that determine the transport within their complex three-dimensional microstructure remain insufficiently quantified. In this study, X-ray computed tomography (CT) is employed to reconstruct the three-dimensional microstructure of an industrial press felt to generate a model for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations in Simcenter STAR-CCM+. Complementary pressure drop (Δp) experiments are performed to determine permeability κ and the Forchheimer coefficient β using the Darcy-Forchheimer equation used for validation [1]. Δp/L=η/κ⋅v+ρ⋅β⋅v^2 (1) Discrepancies between the simulations and experiments are primarily attributed to the limitation of image binarization, leading to different values for the porosity. Taking these differences into account results in a good agreement between the experiments and simulations. Furthermore, streamlines reveal preferred flow channels, indicating strongly heterogeneous mass transport within the felt. Ongoing work includes further experimental and simulation research on compressed felt states to extract material properties as a function of mechanical loading. The resulting model provides a basis for analyzing dewatering phenomena and supports engineering optimization and design of new press felt structures.