A polynomial framework for design of drag reducing periodic two-dimensional textured surfaces

Abstract

Periodic and symmetric two-dimensional textures with various cross-sectional profiles have been employed to improve and optimize the physical response of the surfaces such as drag force, superhydrophobicity, and adhesion. While the effect of the height and spacing of the textures have been extensively studied, the effect of the shape of the textures has only been considered qualitatively. Here, a polynomial framework is proposed to mathematically define the cross-sectional profiles of the textures and offer a quantitative measure for comparing the physical response of the textured surfaces with various shapes. As a case study, textured surfaces designed with this framework are tested for their hydrodynamic frictional response in the cylindrical Couette flow regime in Taylor–Couette flows. With the reduction in torque as the objective, experimental and numerical results confirm that textures with height-to-half-spacing ratios of lower and equal to unity with concave profiles offer a lower torque compared to both smooth surfaces and triangular textures. In addition, across multiple polynomial orders, textures defined by second-order polynomials offer a wide range of responses, eliminating the need for considering polynomials of higher orders and complexity. While the case study here is focused on the laminar flow regime and the frictional torque, the same type of analysis can be applied to other surface properties and physical responses as well.