Spectral Analysis and Discussion on the Velocity Fluctuation in Drag Reducing Channel Flow by Surfactant Additives

Abstract

It is known as the Toms effect that the wall friction coefficient is reduced by adding a small amount of polymer or surfactant into a water flow. In the drag-reducing flow, it is expected that a time scale of turbulent velocity fluctuation is changed by relaxation time due to viscoelasticity. In the present study, experimental analysis of the turbulent velocity fluctuation was performed with temporal characteristics in surfactant solution flow. The velocity fluctuations were measured by using a two-component laser Doppler velocimeter system on turbulent channel flow. And then, we performed statistical operation on those data and examined the time scale. From spectra analysis, it was found that very low frequency velocity fluctuations existed near the wall region in the surfactant solution flow. It was also revealed that the strong anisotropy occurred not only with the intensity but also with frequency distribution in turbulent velocity fluctuations. Moreover, the turbulence contributes nothing to the Reynolds shear stress and behaves as a wave motion. It was concluded that the turbulent eddies and viscoelasticity were two factors contributing to turbulent generation in the viscoelastic turbulent flow, with each factor having its own time scale.