The drag reduction performance of low Reynolds number pulsating flow in flexible rectangular channels

Abstract

This work employed theoretical and experimental methods to study the drag reduction performance of flexible channels for low Reynolds number pulsating flow. A novel theoretical model was proposed to describe flow in a flexible rectangular channel. According to the model, the drag reduction of the flexible channel was speculated. Subsequently, experiments were carried out to verify the theoretical results and to illuminate the drag reduction performance of the flexible channel in detail under the impacts of pulsating frequency, nondimensional velocity amplitude, average Reynolds number, and the thickness of the flexible wall. The results indicated that the flexible channel exhibited superior drag reduction performance for pulsating flow as compared to that for steady flow. Meanwhile, the drag reduction rate increased with the increase of pulsating frequency, nondimensional velocity amplitude, and average Reynolds number, and smaller thickness of the flexible wall was in favor of drag reduction at the same flow parameters. Moreover, the current experimental data were utilized to establish a correlation predicting the drag reduction rate of the flexible channel for pulsating flow, which fits 76.4% of 195 data within ±25%.