Numerical study on modulation of microbubbles on turbulence frictional drag in a horizontal channel

Abstract

Although many investigations on the drag reduction by microbubbles have been conducted, a general mechanism guiding the design of the drag reduction system has not been achieved yet. The drag reduction by microbubbles was investigated in detail with the Euler–Lagrange two-way coupling method in order to understand the drag reduction mechanism by microbubbles in this paper. The liquid velocity field was solved with direct numerical simulations (DNS), and the bubble trajectory was calculated by Newtonian motion equation. The mutual momentum transfer between gas and liquid phases was bridged by interphase forces. The computational results show that a low drag-reduction rate is obtained, the liquid-phase velocity is slightly increased in the region away from the channel wall (i.e., the channel side containing microbubbles), and the turbulence intensity and Reynolds shear stress of the liquid phase are changed along the whole channel height. The present analysis shows that the drag reduction depends on mutual interactions between microbubbles and the liquid turbulence with the help of interphase forces.