High-Reynolds-Number Turbulent-Boundary-Layer Surface Pressure Fluctuations With Bubble or Polymer Additives

Abstract

This paper reports multi-point dynamic pressure fluctuation measurements made beneath a high-Reynolds-number turbulent boundary layer (TBL) with wall-injection of air or polymer additives for the purpose of skin-friction drag reduction. Two independent experiments were conducted in the U.S. Navy’s Large Cavitation Channel (LCC) on a 12.9 m long, 3.05 m wide hydro-dynamically smooth (k+ < 1) flat plate at free-stream speeds from 6.5 to 20.0 m/s. The first, a bubble drag reduction experiment (BDR), involved injecting gas at flow rates ranging from 100 to 800 CFM (17.8 to 142.5 liter/s per meter of injector span) from one of two injectors located 1.32 and 9.78 m from the model leading edge. The second, a polymer drag reduction experiment (PDR), involved injecting polymer from a single slot injector, 1.32 m from the leading edge, at flow-rates ranging from 6 to 30 GPM (0.14 to 0.71 liter/s per meter of injector span). Dynamic pressure measurements were made with 16 flush-mounted transducers in “L”-shaped arrays located 10.7 and 9.8 m (70 × 106 < ReX < 210 × 106) from the leading edge for the BDR and PDR experiments, respectively. Measurements show modifications in the spectra, stream-wise coherence, and convection velocity of the pressure fluctuations due to the presence of gas or polymer in the near-wall region of the TBL. At the dynamic pressure measurement locations the maximum skin-friction drag reduction approached 100% for the BDR experiment and 63% for the PDR experiment.