409
Views
30
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

Some dynamical features of the turbulent flow of a viscoelastic fluid for reduced drag

, &
Article: N19 | Received 28 Nov 2011, Accepted 08 Apr 2012, Published online: 25 Jun 2012
 

Abstract

It is well known that the addition of minute amounts of long polymer chains to organic solvents, or water, can lead to significant turbulent drag reduction. In the present study, direct numerical simulations of turbulent channel flow of a viscoelastic fluid, at zero-shear friction Reynolds numbers up to of 1000, are analyzed. Both the mean and turbulent fields are studied, but with a primary focus on the turbulent stress and viscoelastic extra-stress (conformation tensor) fields in order to contrast the dynamics of each. An analysis of both the turbulent kinetic energy and the elastic energy budget is made, with emphasis on the interactive dynamics between the two fields.

Acknowledgments

[Acknowledgements] We would like to thank Dr. Remi Manceau for his insightful comments concerning the energy budgets. This research has granted access to the HPC (high-performance computing) resources of CCRT/CINES/IDRIS under the allocation i2011022277 made by GENCI (Grand Equipement National de Calcul Intensif). The data used herein were produced on the IBM Blue Gene/P computer Babel at the IDRIS/CNRS computing center, Orsay, France. The DNS database can be useful for a detailed investigation of the statistical properties of wall-bounded turbulence in the presence of diluted polymer. To facilitate such investigations, full cross-channel statistics can be publicly accessed online at http://lml.univ-lille1.fr/channeldata/

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.