Effects of longitudinal grooves on the Couette–Poiseuille flow

Abstract

The effects of longitudinal grooves on the flow resistance in a channel where the flow is driven by movement of one of the walls and modified by a streamwise pressure gradient have been studied. The reducedorder geometrymodel has been used to extract geometric features that are hydraulically relevant. Three distinct zones leading to the reduced resistance have been identified, depending on the flow pressure gradient and the groove wave number. Two of these zones correspond to grooves with long wavelengths and one to grooves with short wavelengths. Optimization has been used to determine shapes that provide the largest flow rate. In the case of the long-wavelength grooves, the optimal shapes depend on the constraints. These shapes are well approximated by a certain universal trapezoid for grooves that have the same height and depth. There exists an optimum depth which, combined with the corresponding shape, defines the optimal geometry in the case of the unequal-depth grooves; this shape is well approximated by a Gaussian function. No optimal shape exists for the short-wavelength grooves if the groove amplitude is sufficiently small; the shortest admissible wavelength dominates system performance under such conditions. The most effective groove wave number does exist for higher grooves, but the optimal shape cannot be determined due to numerical limitations.