Drag Reduction by Riblets & Sharkskin Denticles: A Numerical Study
2015-07
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Drag Reduction by Riblets & Sharkskin Denticles: A Numerical Study
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2015-07
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Riblet films are a passive method of turbulent boundary layer control that can reduce viscous drag. They have been studied with great detail for over 30 years. Although common riblet applications include flows with Adverse Pressure Gradients (APG), nearly all research thus far has been performed in channel flows. Recent research has provided motivation to study riblets in more complicated turbulent flows with claims that riblet drag reduction can double in mild APG common to airfoils at moderate angles of attack. Therefore, in this study, we compare drag reduction by scalloped riblet films between riblets in a zero pressure gradient and those in a mild APG using high-resolution large eddy simulations. In order to gain a fundamental understanding of the relationship between drag reduction and pressure gradient, we simulated several different riblet sizes that encompassed a broad range of s+ (riblet width in wall units), similarly to many experimental studies. We found that there was only a slight improvement in drag reduction for riblets in the mild APG. We also observed that peak values of streamwise turbulence intensity, turbulent kinetic energy, and streamwise vorticity scale with riblet width. Primary Reynolds shear stresses and turbulence kinetic energy production however scale with the ability of the riblet to reduce skin-friction. Another turbulent roughness of similar shape and size to riblets is sharkskin. The hydrodynamic function of sharkskin has been under investigation for the past 30 years. Current literature conflicts on whether sharkskin is able to reduce skin friction similarly to riblets. To contribute insights toward reconciling these conflicting views, Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) are carried out to obtain detailed flow fields around realistic denticles. A sharp interface immersed boundary method is employed to simulate two arrangements of actual sharkskin denticles (from Isurus oxyrinchus) in a turbulent boundary layer at Re? [approximately equal to] 180. For comparison, turbulent flow over drag-reducing scalloped riblets is also simulated with similar flow conditions and with the same numerical method. Although the denticles resemble riblets, both sharkskin arrangements increase total drag by 44-50%, while the riblets reduce drag by 5%. Analysis of the simulated flow fields shows that the turbulent flow around denticles is highly three-dimensional and separated, with 25% of the total drag being form drag. The complex three-dimensional shape of the denticles gives rise to a mean flow dominated by strong secondary flows in sharp contrast with the mean flow generated by riblets, which is largely two-dimensional. The so resulting three- dimensionality of sharkskin flows leads to an increase in the magnitude of the turbulence statistics near the denticles, which further contributes to increasing the total drag. The simulations also show that, at least for the simulated arrangements, sharkskin, in sharp contrast with drag-reducing riblets, is unable to isolate high shear stress near denticle ridges causing a significant portion of the denticle surface to be exposed to high mean shear. Lastly, it has been theorized that sharkskin might act similarly to vortex generators and prevent separation. In order to test this theory, we have conducted simulations with and without sharkskin upstream of a steady separation bubble. Using large eddy simulation, our study shows that sharkskin worsened the weak separation region and enlarged the separation bubble's boundaries. The cause was shown to originate due to the denticles acting as blockages, rather than vortex generators. In fact, our results showed that separation occurred just after the second row of denticles and that the turbulent flow was unable to recover its lost momentum. Streamwise turbulence intensities were decreased compared to the baseline case. Finally, in the present case, the sharkskin induced reversed flow within the denticles--something that was not observed with sharkskin in channel flow.
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University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. July 2015. Major: Mechanical Engineering. Advisor: Fotis Sotiropoulos. 1 computer file (PDF); xi, 158 pages.
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Boomsma, Aaron. (2015). Drag Reduction by Riblets & Sharkskin Denticles: A Numerical Study. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/175272.
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