Simulating Polymer Drag Reduction Using a Modified Mixing Length in Zero Pressure Gradient Boundary Layers

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • White, J.J.
  • Holloway, G.L.
  • Jeans, T.L.

• It is known that a small concentration of polymer introduced to the boundary layer can produce significant drag reduction for liquid flows. This effect has been studied extensively for internal flow and polymer injection in external flow, though much is still unknown about the underlying mechanism. More recently, select external flow research has focused on drag reduction for ships. The present work is a building block towards a practical methodology for simulating an ablative polymer paint to induce drag reduction on submarine geometries. Polymer drag reduction experiments can be closely reproduced by modifying empirical constants in the simple mixing length turbulence model. Potential avenues for implementation in standard commercially available CFD solvers are explored.

  Part of the Proceedings of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering International Congress 2022.

• Date created

  2022-06-01

• Subjects / Keywords

  • drag reduction
  • boundary layer
  • polymer
  • turbulence model
  • flat plate
  • CFD

• Type of Item

  Article (Published)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-cgda-ts79

• License

  Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International