A combined PIV/LIF-system for the measurement of heterogeneous drag reduction effects in a pipe-flow

 Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique combined with flow visualization was applied in heterogeneous drag reduction to examine the motion of the polymer thread and the mixing process of polymer and water simultaneously at Reynolds numbers of 15000. The instantaneous velocity profiles for water/polymer motion showed in some cross-sections differences in the velocities of the two phases which indicates an interaction between the polymer thread and the water phase. The results of this interaction have not a significant effect on the drag reduction compared with the influence of the mixing process. Received: 31 October 1995/Accepted: 16 July 1996     

Experiments in Turbulent Pipe Flow with Polymer Additives at Maximum Drag Reduction

In this paper we report on (two-component) LDV experiments in a fully developed turbulent pipe flow with a drag-reducing polymer (partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide) dissolved in water. The Reynolds number based on the mean velocity, the pipe diameter and the local viscosity at the wall is approximately 10000. We have used polymer solutions with three different concentrations which have been chosen such that maximum drag reduction occurs. The amount of drag reduction found is 60–70%. Our experimental results are compared with results obtained with water and with a very dilute solution which exhibits only a small amount of drag reduction. We have focused on the observation of turbulence statistics (mean velocities and turbulence intensities) and on the various contributions to the total shear stress. The latter consists of a turbulent, a solvent (viscous) and a polymeric part. The polymers are found to contribute significantly to the total stress. With respect to the mean velocity profile we find a thickening of the buffer layer and an increase in the slope of the logarithmic profile. With respect to the turbulence statistics we find for the streamwise velocity fluctuations an increase of the root mean square at low polymer concentration but a return to values comparable to those for water at higher concentrations. The root mean square of the normal velocity fluctuations shows a strong decrease. Also the Reynolds (turbulent) shear stress and the correlation coefficient between the stream wise and the normal components are drastically reduced over the entire pipe diameter. In all cases the Reynolds stress stays definitely non-zero at maximum drag reduction. The consequence of the drop of the Reynolds stress is a large polymer stress, which can be 60% of the total stress. The kinetic-energy balance of the mean flow shows a large transfer of energy directly to the polymers instead of the route by turbulence. The kinetic energy of the turbulence suggests a possibly negative polymeric dissipation of turbulent energy. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

An investigation of possible mechanisms of heterogeneous drag reduction in pipe and channel flows

When concentrated polymer solutions are injected into the core-region of a turbulent pipe or channel flow, the injected polymer solution forms a thread which preserves its identity far beyond the injection point. The resulting drag reduction is called heterogeneous drag reduction.This study presents experimental results on the mechanism of this type of drag reduction. The experiments were carried out to find out whether this drag reduction is caused by small amounts of polymer removed from the thread and dissolved in the near-wall region of the flow or by an interaction of the polymer thread with the turbulence. The friction behavior of this type of drag reduction was measured for different concentrations in pipes of different cross-sections, but of identical hydraulic diameter. The parameters of the injection, i.e. injector geometry as well as the ratio of the injection to the bulk velocity, were varied. In one set of experiments the polymer thread was sucked out through an orifice and the friction behavior in the pipe was determined downstream of the orifice. In another experiment, near-wall fluid was led into a bypass in order to measure its drag reducing properties. Furthermore, the influence of a water injection into the near-wall region on the drag reduction was studied.The results provide a strong evidence that heterogeneous drag reduction is in part caused by small amount of dissolved polymer in the near-wall region as well as by an interaction of the polymer thread with the turbulence.Nomenclature a channel height - b channel width - c _p concentration of the injected polymer solution - c _R effective polymer concentration averaged over the cross-section - d pipe or hydraulic diameter - d _i injector diameter - DR drag reduction - f friction factor - l downstream distance from injector - L length of a pipe segment - P polymer type - p differential pressure - Re Reynolds number - U bulk velocity - u ^* ratio of injection to bulk velocity - y ⁺ dimensionless wall distance - v kinematic viscosity - density of the fluid - _w wall shear stress     

Drag of a sphere in dilute polymer solutions in high Reynolds number range

We have measured by means of four ultrasonic transducers the fall velocity of a sphere at high Reynolds number range in dilute polyacrylamide solutions which have viscoelastic effects. The polymer solutions were 5, 20 and 50ppm in the concentration. Basset-Bousinessq-Oseen equation for the falling sphere was analyzed numerically on Newtonian fluids in order to compare with the fall velocity of a sphere in the polymer solutions, and the experimental data of the fall velocity in tap water is in agreement with the range of no effect of the test tank wall. In polymer solutions, it was shown that the fall velocity is larger than that in Newtonian fluids within the critical Reynolds number range such that the drag reduction occurs and is smaller than that of Newtonian fluids over the range. The experimental data for the drag reduction ratio of polymer solutions is arranged by Weissenberg number calculating the experimental data of the first normal stress differences. It was shown that the maximum drag reduction ratio in the polymer solutions lies in the range of We=3∼10. Received: 15 October 1997 Accepted: 12 May 1998     

The influence of flow-induced non-Newtonian fluid properties on turbulent drag reduction

Friction factors and velocity profiles in turbulent drag reduction can be compared to Newtonian fluid turbulence when the shear viscosity at the wall shear rate is used for the Reynolds number and the local shear viscosity is used for the non-dimensional wall distance. On this basis, an apparent maximum drag reduction asymptote is found which is independent of Reynolds number and type of drag reducing additive. However, no shear viscosity is able to account for the difference between the measured Reynolds stress and the Reynolds stress calculated from the mean velocity profile (the Reynolds stress deficit). If the appropriate local viscosity to use with the velocity fluctuation correlations includes an elongational component, the problem can be resolved. Taking the maximum drag reduction asymptote as a non-Newtonian flow, with this effective viscosity, leads to agreement with the concept of an asymptote only when the solvent viscosity is used in the non-dimensional wall distance.     

On two distinct types of drag-reducing fluids,diameter scaling,and turbulent profiles

Two distinct scaling procedures were found to predict the diameter effect for different types of drag-reducing fluids. The first one, which correlates the relative drag reduction (DR) with flow bulk velocity (V), appears applicable to fluids that comply with the 3-layers velocity profile model. This model has been applied to many polymer solutions; but the drag reduction versus V scaling procedure was successfully tested here for some surfactant solutions as well. This feature, together with our temperature profile measurements, suggest that these surfactant solutions may also show this type of 3-layers velocity profiles (3L-type fluids).The second scaling procedure is based on a correlation of τ_w versus V, which is found to be applicable to some surfactant solutions but appears to be applicable to some polymer solutions as well. The distinction between the two procedures is therefore not simply one between polymer and surfactants. It was also seen that the τ_w versus V correlation applies to fluids which show a stronger diameter effect than those scaling with the other procedure. Moreover, for fluids that scale according to the τ_w versus V procedure, the drag-reducing effects extend throughout the whole pipe cross section even at conditions close to the onset of drag reduction, in contrast to the behavior of 3L fluids. This was shown by our measurements of temperature profiles which exhibit a fan-type pattern for the τ_w versus V fluids (F-type), unlike the 3-layers profile for the fluids well correlated by drag reduction versus V. Finally, mechanically-degraded polymer solutions appeared to behave in a manner intermediate between the 3L and F fluids.Furthermore, we also showed that a given fluid in a given pipe may transition from a Type A drag reduction at low Reynolds number to a Type B at high Reynolds number, the two types apparently being more representative of different levels of fluid/flow interactions than of fundamentally different phenomena of drag reduction. After transition to the non-asymptotic Type B regime, our results suggest that, without degradation, the friction becomes independent of pipe diameter and that the drag reduction level becomes also approximately independent of the Reynolds number, in a strong analogy to Newtonian flow.     

Influence of wavy structured surfaces and large scale polymer structures on drag reduction

Drag reduction was studied for turbulent flow over a structured wall that contained 600 sinusoidal waves with a wavelength of 5 mm and an amplitude of 0.25 mm. A concentrated solution of a co-polymer of polyacrylamide and sodium acrylate was injected into the flow through wall slots. Laser Doppler velocimetry was used to measure turbulence. A fluorescence technique was developed that enabled us to demonstrate the existence, under certain circumstances, of large gelatinous structures in the injected polymer solution and in the flow channel.At maximum drag reduction, the Reynolds shear stress was zero and the velocity field was the same as found for a smooth surface. Larger drag reductions could be realized for a wavy wall because the initial drag was larger. The influences of polymers on the turbulent fields are similar for smooth and wavy boundaries. These results are of interest since the interaction with the wall can be quite different for water flow over smooth and wavy boundaries (which are characterized as being completely rough). An important effect of polymers is a decreasing relative importance of high frequency fluctuations with increasing drag reduction that is characterized by a cut-off frequency. This cut-off is the same for smooth and wavy walls at maximum drag reduction. The sensitivity of drag reduction to the method of preparing and delivering the polymer solution suggests that aggregation of polymers could be playing an important role for the system that was studied. For example, drag reduction was enhanced when large polymer structures are present.     

Experimental Investigation on Turbulent Structure of Drag Reducing Channel Flow with Blowing Polymer Solution from the Wall

Turbulent drag reducing flow with blowing polymer solution from the channel wall was investigated experimentally using particle image velocimetry (PIV). Experiments were carried out with varying conditions of blowing polymer solution (e.g. weight concentration of polymer solution). Reynolds number based on the channel height and mean velocity was set to 20000 and 40000. When the polymer solution was blown from the channel wall, streamwise velocity fluctuation little increased, but wall-normal velocity fluctuation, Reynolds shear stress and correlation coefficient decreased significantly only near the blower wall. This behavior corresponds to the decrease of the ejection and sweep in the near-wall region observed by the investigation of instantaneous velocity map. On the contrary, this characteristic behavior was not observed at a position away from the blower wall (y/(H/2) > 0.4) and the scatter plot was almost the same as that of the water flow in this region. These results suggest that there are two regions in the drag reducing flow with blowing polymer solution from the wall; one is a non-Newtonian region which exists near the blower wall, and the other is a Newtonian region at a distance from the wall. The non-Newtonian region plays a key role in the drag reduction by the blowing polymer solution.     

Numerical study of the turbulent channel flow under space-dependent electromagnetic force control at different Reynolds numbers

In this paper, the control of turbulent channel flow by space-dependent electromagnetic force and the mechanism of drag reduction are investigated with the direct numerical simulation(DNS) methods for different Reynolds numbers. A formulation is derived to express the relation between the drag and the Reynolds shear stress. With the application of optimal electromagnetic force, the in-depth relations among characteristic structures in the flow field, mean Reynolds shear stress, and the effect of drag reduction for different Reynolds numbers are discussed. The results indicate that the maximum drag reductions can be obtained with an optimal combination of parameters for each case of different Reynolds numbers. The regular quasi-streamwise vortex structures, which appear in the flow field, have the same period with that of the electromagnetic force.These structures suppress the random velocity fluctuations, which leads to the absolute value of mean Reynolds shear stress decreasing and the distribution of that moving away from the wall. Moreover, the wave number of optimal electromagnetic force increases,and the scale of the regular quasi-streamwise vortex structures decreases as the Reynolds number increases. Therefore, the rate of drag reduction decreases with the increase in the Reynolds number since the scale of the regular quasi-streamwise vortex structures decreases.     

Die Wirkung von Polymerzusätzen auf die Turbulenzstruktur in der ebenen Mischungsschicht zweier Ströme

The plane mixing layer formed between two parallel streams moving with different velocities is one of the simplest types of free turbulent boundary layers and has frequently been studied for Newtonian fluids. As a result of this and because of its good experimental accessibility this type of flow provides a good opportunity for obtaining information about the influence of drag reducing additives on the structure of free turbulence. This is all the more so because of the presence of a characteristic vortex structure which can be clearly distinguished from the overlying statistical fine turbulence. The turbulence field was investigated using an existent laser Doppler anemometer system that had been designed for space-time correlation measurements. This enabled measurements to be made of the mainstream velocity as well as of the longitudinal and transversal turbulent fluctuations and, after a simple modification, also of the Reynolds shear stresses and the cross correlation coefficients. The main result of the addition of 50 ppm of the polymer used (Separan AP30) was found to be an intensification of the Reynolds shear stresses. The resulting substantially more rapid increase (than in water) in the thickness of the shear layer can be explained theoretically; such behaviour has also been observed in free jets. On the other hand, the reduced thickness of the mixing layer in the initial region and the associated enhancement of the longitudinal fluctuations and damping of the transversal fluctuations indicate that the main shear flow induces a flow anisotropy by uncoiling and aligning the polymer molecules. The increase in the spreading angle suggests that the entrainment process at the edges of the mixing layer is intensified. This can be explained by the enhancement of the large energy carrying vortices in the turbulence spectrum. This is probably also the reason for the general increase in the correlation coefficients observed at all positions along the centreline of the flow field. However, a complete discussion of the energy transfer mechanism present here, in particular with inclusion of the fine turbulence responsible for dissipation, is only possible with the help of a detailed analysis of the vortex structure in the mixing layer. This is presented in a following paper. The relation between the degree of drag reduction and the intensity of the Reynolds shear stresses enables the direct influence of the rheological properties of the fluid on the turbulent momentum transfer to be clearly recognized.     

Turbulent pipe flow of a drag-reducing rigid “rod-like” polymer solution

Fully developed turbulent pipe flow of an aqueous solution of a rigid “rod-like” polymer, scleroglucan, at concentrations of 0.005% (w/w) and 0.01% (w/w) has been investigated experimentally. Fanning friction factors were determined from pressure-drop measurements for the Newtonian solvent (water) and the polymer solutions and so levels of drag reduction for the latter. Mean axial velocity u and complete Reynolds normal stress data, i.e. u′, v′ and w′, were measured by means of a laser Doppler anemometer at three different Reynolds numbers for each fluid. The measurements indicate that the effectiveness of scleroglucan as a drag-reducing agent is only mildly dependent on Reynolds number. The turbulence structure essentially resembles that of flexible polymer solutions which also lead to low levels of drag reduction.     

Temporal and spatial transients in turbulent boundary layer flow over an oscillating wall

Direct numerical simulations have been performed to study the effect of an oscillating segment of the wall on a turbulent boundary layer flow. Two different oscillation amplitudes with equal oscillation period have been used, which allows a direct comparison between a relatively weak and strong forcing of the flow. The weaker forcing results in 18% drag reduction while the stronger forcing, with twice the amplitude, yields 29% drag reduction. The downstream development of the drag reduction is compared with earlier simulations and experiments. In addition, a simulation with identical oscillation parameters as in previous numerical and experimental investigations allows for an estimation of the effect of the Reynolds number on the drag reduction.Reductions in the Reynolds stresses and the important role that the edge of the Stokes layer has is explained.An estimation of the idealized power consumption shows that a positive energy budget is only possible for the weaker wall velocity case.Spatial and temporal transients are investigated and a transformation between spatial and temporal coordinates via a convection velocity is shown to facilitate a comparison between the two transients in a consistent manner. The streamwise shear exhibits a similar monotonic behavior in the spatial and temporal transients, while the non-monotinic temporal transient of the longitudinal Reynolds stress has no counterpart in the spatial development. Furthermore, the evolution in time of the spanwise Reynolds stress is very similar to previously reported channel flow data.The instantaneous spanwise velocity profile (only averaged in the homogeneous spanwise direction) will for the first time be presented from a boundary layer over an oscillating wall, and comparisons with the analytical solution to the laminar Navier–Stokes equations show very good agreement.     

The mechanism of polymer thread drag reduction

One very effective method of reducing the drag of a turbulent fluid flow is through the use of soluble, viscoelastic, long-chain, high-molecular-weight polymer additives. These additives have produced drag reduction of up to 80% in pipe flows. Polymers are typically added by injecting high concentration solutions into an established Newtonian flow.This study investigated the mechanism of drag reduction that occurs when a long-chain, high-molecular-weight polymer is injected along the centerline of a pipe with a concentration high enough to form a single, coherent, unbroken thread. In the present experiments, the unbroken threads existed for more than 200 pipe diameters downstream of the injector and produced drag reductions on the order of 40%. Previous authors have contended that this type of drag reduction is caused by the interaction of the thread with the outer flow. However, it has been proven in cases where the polymer is mixed throughout the flow that drag reduction requires the existence of polymer in the near-wall region. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that drag reduction from a polymer thread is caused by transport of polymer molecules from the thread into the near-wall region of the pipe. The objective was realized through the measurement of the drag reduction, the radial location of the thread, and the polymer concentration in the near-wall region. The concentration was measured by laser-induced fluorescence utilizing fluorescein dye as the tracer. This study provides strong evidence that the drag reduction from a polymer thread is caused by the transport of very low concentrations of polymer from the thread into the near-wall region.     

Evaluation of flush mounted hot-film sensors for skin friction reduction measurements in viscoelastic polymer solutions

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the performance of flush mounted hot-film sensors for mean wall shear stress measurement in turbulent flows of dilute drag reducing polymer solution. A series of pipe flow expriments were conducted over a range of Reynolds numbers and polymer solution concentrations to compare the level of skin friction drag reduction measured by hot-film sensors with values calculated from pipe pressure drop. It is shown that water calibrated hot-film sensors consistently underestimate the wall shear stress suggesting that Reynolds analogy is not valid in dilute polymer solutions. The Newtonian form of the relationship between the wall shear stress and the heat transfer remains valid in dilute polymer solutions. However, multiplicative and additive factors in the relationship are shown to increase linearly with the logarithm of the polymer concentration.     

A study on coherent structures and drag-reduction in the wall turbulence with polymer additives by TRPIV

An experimental measurement was performed using time-resolved particle image velocimetry (TRPIV) to investigate the spatial topological character of coherent structures in wall-bounded turbulence of polymer additive solution. The fully developed near-wall turbulent flow fields with and without polymer additives at the same Reynolds number were measured by TRPIV in a water channel. The comparisons of turbulent statistics confirm that due to viscoelastic structure of long-chain polymers, the wall-normal velocity fluctuation and Reynolds shear stress in the near-wall region are suppressed significantly. Furthermore, it is noted that such a behavior of polymers is closely related to the decease of the motion of the second and forth quadrants, i.e., the ejection and sweep events, in the near-wall region. The spatial topological mode of coherent structures during bursts has been extracted by the new mu-level criteria based on locally averaged velocity structure function. Although the general shapes of coherent structures are unchanged by polymer additives, the fluctuating velocity, velocity gradient, velocity strain rate and vorticity of coherent structures during burst events are suppressed in the polymer additive solution compared with that in water. The results show that due to the polymer additives the occurrence and intensity of coherent structures are suppressed, leading to drag reduction.     

Polymer Induced Drag Reduction in a Turbulent Pipe Flow Subjected to a Coriolis Force

The skin friction factor f in a turbulent wall-bounded flow can be greatly reduced by using polymer solutions. In this paper we discuss experimental results on the effect of the Coriolis force on turbulent drag reduction. To study this, a horizontal smooth-walled pipe with internal diameter 25?mm is placed on a horizontal table rotating about its vertical axis. The rotation is made non-dimensional with friction velocity and pipe diameter, to form the Rotation number Ro. For a range of bulk Rotation number (Ro _b ) between 0 and 0.6 for two different Reynolds numbers (Re _b = 15 & 30 × 10³), the pressure drop is measured, from which the average friction factor f is obtained. Additionally the effect of four different polymer concentrations has been investigated. The single-phase results show that the friction factor increases monotonic but gradual with Rotation. With polymer additives a drag reduction is found that increases with concentration, but which is not affected by the rotation.     

A Reynolds stress model for turbulent flow of homogeneous polymer solutions

Using a priori analyses of direct numerical simulation (DNS) data, a Reynolds stress model (RSM) is developed to account for the influence of polymer additives on turbulent flow over a wide range of flow conditions. The Finitely Extensible Nonlinear Elastic-Peterlin (FENE-P) rheological constitutive model is utilized to evaluate the polymer contribution to the stress tensor. Thirteen DNS data sets are used to analyze the budgets of elastic stress–velocity gradient correlations as well as Reynolds stress and dissipation transport. Closures are developed in the framework of the RSM model for all the required unknown and non-linear terms. The polymer stresses, velocity profiles, turbulent flow statistics and the percentage of friction drag reduction predicted by the RSM model are in good agreement with present and those obtained from independent DNS data over a wide range of rheological and flow parameters.     

固体颗粒对沟槽湍流边界层影响的实验研究

本文采用粒子图像测速技术(particles image velocimetry, PIV)研究固体颗粒对放置在平板湍流边界层中的平壁和沟槽壁面减阻效果的影响. 实验对清水和加入粒径为155 μm聚苯乙烯颗粒的流法向二维速度场信息进行采集, 对不同工况下的平均速度剖面、雷诺应力和湍流度等统计量进行对比, 分析流体在边界层中的行为. 运用空间局部平均结构函数提取了不同工况湍流边界层喷射?扫掠行为的空间拓扑结构并进行比较. 结果发现, 在不同的壁面条件下, 粒子加入后的对数律区中无量纲速度均略大于清水组, 雷诺切应力有所降低, 湍流度有所减弱. 对于不同流场速度下的沟槽而言, 颗粒的加入均降低了壁面附近的阻力, 而颗粒单独作用于光滑壁面的减阻效果并不明显. 加入粒子后的相干结构数目有所增加, 法向脉动速度下降. 沟槽壁面附近的相干结构数目有所增加, 法向脉动速度在自由来流速度较大时有所上升, 在速度较小时有所下降. 这表明不同减阻状况下的沟槽均能将大涡破碎成更多的涡, 并且粒子的加入强化了这种破碎作用.      

The effect of a systematic change in surface roughness skewness on turbulence and drag

Previous work by the authors (Flack and Schultz, 2010) has identified the root-mean-square roughness height, k_rms, and the skewness, Sk, of the surface elevation distribution as important parameters in scaling the skin-friction drag on rough surfaces. In this study, three surfaces are tested in turbulent boundary layer flow at a friction Reynolds number, Re_τ = 1600–2200. All the surfaces have similar root-mean-square roughness height, while the skewness is varied. Measurements are presented using both two-component LDV and PIV. The results show the anticipated trend of increasing skin-friction drag with increasing skewness. The largest increase in drag occurs going from negative skewness to zero skewness with a more modest increase going from zero to positive skewness. Some differences in the mean velocity and Reynolds stress profiles are observed for the three surfaces. However, these differences are confined to a region close to the rough surface, and the mean velocity and Reynolds stress profiles collapse away from the wall when scaled in outer variables. The turbulence structure as documented through two-point spatial correlations of velocity is also observed to be very similar over the three surfaces. These results support Townsend’s (1976) concept of outer-layer similarity that the wall boundary condition exerts no direct influence on the turbulence structure away from the wall except in setting the velocity and length scales for the outer layer.