The Mechanism of Drag Reduction around Bodies of Revolution Using Bionic Non-Smooth Surfaces

Bionic non-smooth surfaces （BNSS） can reduce drag. Much attention has been paid to the mechanism of shear stress reduction by riblets. The mechanism of pressure force reduction by bionic non-smooth surfaces on bodies of revolution has not been well investigated. In this work CFD simulation has revealed the mechanism of drag reduction by BNSS, which may work in three ways. First, BNSS on bodies of revolution may lower the surface velocity of the medium, which prevents the sudden speed up of air on the cross section. So the bottom pressure of the model would not be disturbed sharply, resulting in less energy loss and drag reduction. Second, the magnitude of vorticity induced by the bionic model becomes smaller because, due to the sculpturing, the growth of tiny air bubbles is avoided. Thus the large moment of inertia induced by large air bubble is reduced. The reduction of the vorticity could reduce the dissipation of the eddy. So the pressure force could also be reduced. Third, the thickness of the momentum layer on the model becomes less which, according to the relationship between the drag coefficient and the momentum thickness, reduces drag.

Experiment about Drag Reduction of Bionic Non-smooth Surface in Low Speed Wind Tunnel

The body surface of some organisms has non-smooth structure, which is related to drag reduction in moving fluid. To imitate these structures, models with a non-smooth surface were made. In order to find a relationship between drag reduction and the non-smooth surface, an orthogonal design test was employed in a low speed wind tunnel. Six factors likely to influence drag reduction were considered, and each factor tested at three levels. The six factors were the configuration, diameter/bottom width, height/depth, distribution, the arrangement of the rough structures on the experimental model and the wind speed. It was shown that the non-smooth surface causes drag reduction and the distribution of non-smooth structures on the model, and wind speed, are the predominant factors affecting drag reduction. Using analysis of variance, the optimal combination and levels were obtained, which were a wind speed of 44 m/s, distribution of the non-smooth structure on the tail of the experimental model, the configuration of riblets, diameter/bottom width of i mm, height/depth of 0.5 mm, arranged in a rhombic formation. At the optimal combination mentioned above, the 99% confidence interval for drag reduction was 11.13% to 22.30%.

Numerical Simulation on Flow Control for Drag Reduction of Revolution Body Using Dimpled Surface

Numerical simulation on the flow fields near the dimpled and the smooth revolution bodies are performed and compared by using SST k-ω turbulence model, to explain the reasons of friction and base drag reductions on the bionic dimpled surface and the control behaviors of dimpled surface to boundary layer near wall of the revolution body. The simulation results show that the dimpled surface reduces the skin friction drag through reducing the velocity gradient and turbulent intensity, and reduces the base drag through weakening the pumping action on the flow behind the revolution body caused by the external flow; the low speed rotating vortexes in the dimples segregate the external flow and the revolution body; and the low speed rotating vortexes forming in the bottom of dimples can produce negative skin friction.

The investigation and optimization of drag reduction in turbulent flow of Newtonian fluid passing through horizontal pipelines using functionalized magnetic nanophotocatalysts and lecithin

The nanophotocatalysts were synthesized in four stages and evaluated by FTIR, FESEM and VSM analysis. The influence of nanofluids containing functionalized magnetic Ti O2 nanophotocatalyst and dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine lecithin in drag reduction of turbulent flow in four horizontal pipelines was studied. The effective parameters on drag reduction(nanoparticle concentration, surfactant concentration, p H and Re number) were investigated and optimized in each pipeline using response surface method. The drag reduction in 1/2 " galvanized, 3/4" galvanized, 1/2 "five-layer and 1/2" cuprous pipelines was found 99.1%, 92.5%, 87.6% and 85.2%, respectively. The model adequacy was measured using ANOVA. Based on the high determination coefficient, more than 95% of variance of experimental data in all pipelines was described by quadratic model.

Influence of Bionic Non-smooth Surface on Water Flow in Antiskid Tire Tread Pattern

Inspired by the idea that bionic non-smooth surfaces(BNSS)can reduce water flow resistance,the application of BNSS resistance reduction method in grooves surface of antiskid tire tread pattern has been investigated for increasing hydroplaning velocity of tire by using computational fluid dynamics(CFD)simulation.Three kinds of BNSS(riblet,convex dome,and dimple concave)are arranged in tire tread grooves to study the water flow resistance effects in grooves with non-smooth characteristics.A tire-water coupled model is established and CFD technique is applied to simulating hydroplaning.The simulation results show that BNSS grooves can reduce water flow resistance and increase mean flow rate by disturbing the eddy movement in boundary layers.The drag forces of riblet and dimple surface are lower and drainage capacity is higher than those of smooth surface under the same void space on tread pattern,but it is not in dome.BNSS is a good way to promote antiskid performance without increasing additional groove space;extra tire-road noise production is therefore avoided due to groove space enlargement.

Drag Reducing and Increasing Mechanism on Triangular Riblet Surface

Drag reducing and increasing mechanism on riblet surface has been studied through computational fluid dynamics(CFD).Drag reduction is achieved through the optimization of riblet geometry which would affect flow structure inside riblet grooves.Force and flow structure on riblet surface are analyzed and compared with those of smooth surface based on the k-εturbulence model.Drag reducing and increasing mechanism is proved to be related to microvortexes induced inside riblets which lead to Reynolds shear stress reduction significantly and is considered to be the dominant factor resulting in wall friction reduction.Simulation results also show that the pressure drag generating from the deviation of static pressure on the front and rear ends of riblets occurs and grows exponentially with Mach number,which can cause drag increasing.Furthermore,near-wall vortical structures,Reynolds shear stress and static pressure on riblet surfaces are also analyzed in detail.

A Simulation Study of the Turbulent Drag Reduction Mechanisms Derived from Shark Skin

Through the numerical simulation investigation,the turbulent drag reduction mechanisms of shark riblet surface are explored. In allusion to the characteristics of riblets surface,the computation region,grids and flow parameters are dealt with reasonably. These present simulation results show preliminarily that 1) only the near-wall flow field above riblet surfaces is affected by riblets,and the flow within riblets is slow and quiescent; 2) the viscous sub-layer above riblet surface is thicker; 3) the shear stress and the local friction coefficient above the riblet surface are reduced,and the drag reduction quantity is larger at the bottom of riblets than that at the top. Numerical simulation investigation on the riblet surface in the paper can provide a reference for future research in this field.

Flow field characteristics and drag reduction performance of high-low velocity stripes on the biomimetic imbricated fish scale surfaces

Improving energy efficiency and cost reduction is a perennial challenge in engineering.Natural biological systems have evolved unique functional surfaces or special physiological functions over centuries to adapt to their complex environments.Among these biological wonders,fish,one of the oldest vertebrate groups,has garnered significant attention due to its exceptional fluid dynamics capabilities.Researchers are actively exploring the potential of fish skin's distinctive structural and material characteristics in reducing resistance.In this study,models of biomimetic imbricated fish scale are established,and the evolution characteristics of the flow field and drag reduction performance on these bionic surfaces are investigated.The results showed a close relationship between the high-low velocity stripes generated and the fluid motion by the imbricated fish scale surface.The stripes'prominence increases with the spacing of the adjacent scales and tilt angle of the fish scale,and the velocity amplitude of the stripes decreases as the exposed length of the imbricated fish scale surface increases.Moreover,the biomimetic imbricated fish scale surface can decrease the velocity gradient and thereby reduce the wall shear stress.The insights gained from the fish skin-inspired imbricated fish surface provide valuable perspectives for an in-depth analysis of fish hydrodynamics and offer fresh inspiration for drag reduction and antifouling strategies in engineering applications.

Introduction of Multiscaled Longitudinal Vortices by Fractal-Patterned Surface Roughness

To determine the type of surface roughness pattern that is suitable for adaptive suppression of the drag of an obstacle, we observed flow structures introduced by such obstacles. Several roughness patterns were tested: geometric patterns, fractal patterns, reptile-skin patterns, and patterns of circular cylinders arranged in a lattice and in a zigzag manner. A suitable pattern for adaptive control of flow is one that generates longitudinal vortices with nonconstant distances. The preferred instability mode of a laminar boundary layer is expected to be selected automatically from fluctuations involving many frequencies and caused by fractal patterns. Snake- and reptile-skin patterns may have a similar ability as fractal patterns because they consist of multiscale patterns. The longitudinal vortices generated from peculiar positions and concave corners in patterns were observed. The distance between these vortices is not constant because the onset of vortices is at concave corners in fractal patterns. These vortices have differing strengths and easily cause nonlinear interactions, so they can disturb a laminar boundary layer with several higher-harmonic frequencies. The velocity profiles of the laminar boundary-layer flow over the fractal patterns were measured by using hydrogen bubbles. The results show the down-wash flow between the longitudinal vortices, which means that the vortices may effectively suppress the boundary layer separation in an adverse pressure gradient.

Drag reduction in ultrahydrophobic channels with micro-nano structured surfaces

A series of experiments have been performed to demonstrate the significant drag reduction of the laminar flow in the ultrahydrophobic channels with dual-scale micro-nano structured surfaces.However,in previous experiments,the ultrahydrophobic surfaces were fabricated with micro-structures or nano-structures and the channels were on the microscale.For the drag reduction in macro-scale channels few reports are available.Here a new method was developed to fabricate ultrahydrophobic surfaces with micro-nano hierarchical structures made from carbon nanotubes.The drag reductions up to 36.3% were observed in the macro-channels with ultrahydrophobic surfaces.The micro-PIV was used to measure the flow velocity in channels.Compared with the traditional no-slip theory at walls,a significant slip velocity was observed on the ultrahydrophobic surfaces.

Numerical simulation on drag reduction of revolution body through bionic riblet surface

Numerical simulations of flow fields on the bionic riblet and the smooth revolution bodies were performed based on the SST k-ω turbulence model in order to explain the mechanisms of the skin friction drag reduction, base drag reduction on the riblet surface, and flow control behaviors of riblet surface near the wall. The simulation results show that the riblet surface arranged on the rearward of the revolution body can reduce the skin friction drag by 8.27%, the base drag by 9.91% and the total drag by 8.59% at Ma number 0.8. The riblet surface reduces the skin friction drag by reducing the velocity gradient and turbulent intensity, and reduces the base drag by weakening the pumping action on the dead water region which behind the body of revolution caused by the external flow. The flow control behavior on boundary layer shows that the riblet surface can cut the low-speed flow near the wall effectively, and restrain the low-speed flow concentrating in span direction, thus weaken the instability of the low speed steaks produced by turbulent flow bursting.

Use of bionic inspired surfaces for aerodynamic drag reduction on motor vehicle body panels

Inspired by the successful applications of biological non-smoothness,we introduced bionic non-smooth surfaces as appendices into vehicle body design,aiming to further reduce aerodynamic drag.The size range of the non-smooth units with pits and grooves was determined according to our analysis with the mechanisms underlying non-smooth unit mediated aerodynamic drag reduction.The bionic non-smooth units reported here were designed to adapt the structure of a given vehicle body from the point of boundary layer control that reduces the burst and the loss of turbulent kinetic energy.The engine cover lid and vehicle body cap were individually treated with the non-smooth units,and the treated vehicles were subjected to aerodynamic drag coefficient simulation tests using the computational fluid dynamics(CFD) analysis method.The simulation results showed that,in comparison with smooth surfaces,properly designed non-smooth surfaces can have greater effects on drag reduction.The mechanism underlying drag reduction mediated by non-smooth surfaces was revealed by further analyses,in which the effects of non-smooth and smooth surfaces were directly compared.

Skin friction reduction characteristics of variable ovoid non-smooth surfaces

The use of bionic non-smooth surfaces is a popular approach for saving energy because of their drag reduction property. Conventional non-smooth structures include riblets and dimples. Inspired by sand dunes, a novel variable ovoid non-smooth structure is proposed in this study. The body of the variable ovoid dimple was designed based on three size parameters, the radius, semimajor, and depth, and a 3D model was created based on UG software. The constructed variable dimples were placed in a rectangular array on the bottom of a square tube model. Following ANSYS meshing, the grid model was imported into FLUENT, where the flow characteristics were calculated. Results of skin friction reduction were achieved and the effect of the design parameters on different variable ovoid dimples was obtained by orthogonal testing. Various aspects of the skin friction reduction mechanism were discussed including the distribution of velocity vectors, variation in boundary layer thickness, and pressure distribution.

Drag-reduction of 3D printed shark-skin-like surfaces

The marvels of the slippery and clean sharkskin have inspired the development of many clinical and engineering products, although the mechanisms of interfacial interaction between the sharkskin and water have yet to be fully understood. In the present research, a methodology was developed to evaluate morphological parameters and to enable studying the effects of scale orientation on the fluidic behavior of water. The scale orientation of a shark skin was defined as the angle between the ridges and fluid flow direction. Textured surfaces with a series orientation of scales were designed and fabricated using 3 D printing of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene(ABS). The fluid drag performance was evaluated using a rheometer. Results showed that the shark–skin-like surface with 90 degree orientation of scales exhibited the lowest viscosity drag. Its maximum viscosity reduction was 9%. A viscosity map was constructed based on the principals of fluid dynamic. It revealed that the drag reduction effect of a shark-skin-like surface was attributed to the low velocity gradient. This was further proven using diamond nitrogen-vacancy sensing where florescent diamond particles were distributed evenly when the velocity gradient was at the lowest. This understanding could be used as guidance for future surface design.

Drag reduction characteristics and flow field analysis of textured surface

A textured surface with a micro-groove structure exerts a distinct characteristic on drag reduction behavior. The fluid dynamic models of four textured surfaces are constructed in various profile geometries. Computational fluid dynamics is used to study the friction factors and drag reduction properties with various flow speeds on the textured surfaces. The friction coefficient varieties in the interface between the fluid and the textured surface are examined according to the simulation of the four geometries with V-shaped, saw tooth, rectangular, and semi-circular sections. The drag reduction efficiencies decrease with the increase in water velocity while it is less than a certain value. Moreover, the simulation results of the velocity, shear stress, energy, and turbulence effect on the V-shaped groove surface are presented in comparison with those of the smooth surface to illustrate the drag reduction mechanism. The results indicate that the peaks of the V-shaped grooves inhibit the lateral movement of the turbulent flow and generate the secondary vortex, which plays a key role in the impeding momentum exchange, thereby decreasing turbulent bursting intensity and reducing shear stress in the near-wall flow field. The kinetic energy and turbulence analysis shows that the vortex in the near-wall flow field on the textured surface is more stable compared to that on the smooth surface.

Experimental study of drag reduction characteristics related to the multifactor coupling of a bionic jet surface

To study the drag reduction of a jet surface,an experiment is conducted with a gyrorotor model.The aim of this study is to analyze the influence of the jet aperture,the jet angle and the rotational velocity coupled with the jet velocity on the friction torque acting on a jet surface model by using a jet surface drag reduction testing experimental platform.The drag reduction characteristics of the jet surface are also studied.The results show that the maximum drag reduction rate is attained when the jet diameter is 5 mm and the jet velocity is 1.2 m/s.The influence of the jet velocity on the drag reduction rate decreases as the diameter decreases.However,the maximum drag reduction rate can be attained when the angle of the jet is 30° and the velocity of the jet is 1.0 m/s.When the jet diameter is small,the influence of the jet velocity on the drag reduction rate is small,whereas the maximum drag reduction rate is attained when the jet angle is 30° and the jet velocity is 1.0 m/s.When the jet angle is 15°,the drag reduction rate fluctuation is distinct.The maximum drag reduction rate is attained when the rotational velocity is 2 100 r/min and the jet velocity is 1.0 m/s.The results show that the best scheme is A2B2D3 A maximum drag reduction rate of 8.57% can be attained.The effective control of the jet effect on the separation of the boundary layer demonstrates the drag reduction principle of a bionic jet surface.

Plate drag reduction with low surface energy coating in water tunnel

THE response of a compliant coating to pressure fluctuations is known to modify the skin friction in a turbulent boundary layer. It was found that the addition of the dilute solution of polymer additive would reduce drag, surface pressure fluctuation, and also high frequency radiated flow noise. The results of microbubble show that the drag reduction is near 60%

Simulation and experimental study on drag reduction and anti-adhesion of subsoiler with bionic surface

A new subsoiler with placoid scale microstructure bionic surface was proposed which mimicked shark skin to reduce tillage resistance and soil adhesion during subsoiling cultivation.The contour curves of placoid scale microstructure on shark skin were fitted,and two kinds of bionic subsoiler with continuous and discontinuous microstructures were designed and fabricated,respectively.The effects of different bionic surfaces on tillage resistance were investigated by finite element simulation and experiment.The results indicated that the bionic subsoiler with discontinuous microstructure reduced the horizontal and vertical force by 21.3%and 24.8%,respectively.The subsoiler with discontinuous microstructure surface can prevent the adhesion between the soil and subsoiler surface more efficiently.

Fabrication of a micro-structured surface based on interfacial convection for drag reduction

Based on interfacial convection in the presence of solvent evaporation, a novel method for the fabrication of a micro-structured surface is proposed to facilitate drag reduction. A mixture was coated on a substrate through a specially developed spray-painting system. Micron scale pits formed spontaneously in the coated surface because of interfacial convection and deformation driven by the gradient of the interfacial tension. Experimental results indicated that particles in the mixture played a crucial role in pit for-mation, and with a suitable selection of particle size and dosage, the characteristic parameters of the pitting could be controlled. The drag reduction experiments were first performed in a water tunnel, and the results showed that the micro-structured surface had a remarkable drag reduction performance over a great range of flow speeds.

Development of a Remotely Controlled Testing Platform with Low-drag Air-ventilated Hull

This paper addresses the development and testing of a remotely controlled boat platform with an innovative air-ventilated hull. The application of air cavities on the underside of ship hulls is a promising means for reducing hydrodynamic drag and pollutant emissions and increasing marine transportation efficiency. Despite this concept＇s potential, design optimization and high-performance operation of novel air-cavity ships remain a challenging problem. Hull construction and sensor instrumentation of the model-scale air-cavity boat is described in the paper. The modular structure of the hull allows for easy modifications, and an electric propulsion unit enables self-propelled operation. The boat is controlled remotely via a radio transmission system. Results of initial tests are reported, including thrust, speed, and airflow rate in several loading conditions. The constructed platform can be used for optimizing air-cavity systems and testing other innovative hull designs. This system can be also developed into a high-performance unmanned boat.