Reynolds number effect on drag reduction in a microbubble-laden spatially developing turbulent boundary layer

Polymer drag reduction, diffusion and degradation in a high-Reynolds-number turbulent boundary layer (TBL) flow were investigated. The TBL developed on a flat plate at free-stream speeds up to 20ms−1. Measurements were acquired up to 10.7m downstream of the leading edge, yielding downstream-distance-based Reynolds numbers up to 220 million. The test model surface was hydraulically smooth or fully rough. Flow diagnostics included local skin friction, near-wall polymer concentration, boundary layer sampling and rheological analysis of polymer solution samples. Skin-friction data revealed that the presence of surface roughness can produce a local increase in drag reduction near the injection location (compared with the flow over a smooth surface) because of enhanced mixing. However, the roughness ultimately led to a significant decrease in drag reduction with increasing speed and downstream distance. At the highest speed tested (20ms−1) no drag reduction was discernible at the first measurement location (0.56m downstream of injection), even at the highest polymer injection flux (10 times the flux of fluid in the near-wall region). Increased polymer degradation rates and polymer mixing were shown to be the contributing factors to the loss of drag reduction. Rheological analysis of liquid drawn from the TBL revealed that flow-induced polymer degradation by chain scission was often substantial. The inferred polymer molecular weight was successfully scaled with the local wall shear rate and residence time in the TBL. This scaling revealed an exponential decay that asymptotes to a finite (steady-state) molecular weight. The importance of the residence time to the scaling indicates that while individual polymer chains are stretched and ruptured on a relatively short time scale (~10−3s), because of the low percentage of individual chains stretched at any instant in time, a relatively long time period (~0.1s) is required to observe changes in the mean molecular weight. This scaling also indicates that most previous TBL studies would have observed minimal influence from degradation due to insufficient residence times.

Download Full-text

Drag Reduction of a Turbulent Boundary Layer over an Oscillating Wall and Its Variation with Reynolds Number

International Journal of Aerospace Engineering ◽

10.1155/2015/891037 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2015 ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Martin Skote ◽

Maneesh Mishra ◽

Yanhua Wu

Keyword(s):

Boundary Layer ◽

Reynolds Number ◽

Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽

Drag Reduction ◽

Channel Flow ◽

Downstream Distance ◽

The Past ◽

Layer Flow ◽

Reynolds Number Dependency ◽

Downstream Development

Spanwise oscillation applied on the wall under a spatially developing turbulent boundary layer flow is investigated using direct numerical simulation. The temporal wall forcing produces a considerable drag reduction over the region where oscillation occurs. Downstream development of drag reduction is investigated from Reynolds number dependency perspective. An alternative to the previously suggested power-law relation between Reynolds number and peak drag reduction values, which is valid for channel flow as well, is proposed. Considerable deviation in the variation of drag reduction with Reynolds number between different previous investigations of channel flow is found. The shift in velocity profile, which has been used in the past for explaining the diminishing drag reduction at higher Reynolds number for riblets, is investigated. A new predictive formula is derived, replacing the ones found in the literature. Furthermore, unlike for the case of riblets, the shift is varying downstream in the case of wall oscillations, which is a manifestation of the fact that the boundary layer has not reached a new equilibrium over the limited downstream distance in the simulations. Taking this into account, the predictive model agrees well with DNS data. On the other hand, the growth of the boundary layer does not influence the drag reduction prediction.

Download Full-text