Drag Reduction With Superhydrophobic Riblets

Abstract

Samples combining riblets and superhydrophobic surfaces are fabricated at University of Pittsburgh and their drag reduction properties are studied at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS) in Oak Ridge National Laboratory with a commercial cone-and-plate rheometer. In parallel to the experiments, numerical simulations are performed in order to estimate the slip length at high rotational speed. For each sample, a drag reduction of at least 5% is observed in both laminar and turbulent regime. At low rotational speed, drag reduction up to 30% is observed with a 1 mm deep grooved sample. As the rotational speed increases, a secondary flow develops causing a slight decrease in drag reductions. However, drag reduction above 15% is still observed for the large grooved samples. In the turbulent regime, the 100 μm grooved sample becomes more efficient than the other samples in drag reduction and manages to sustain a drag reduction above 15%. Using the simulations, the slip length of the 100 μm grooved sample is estimated to be slightly above 100 μm in the turbulent regime.