The optimization of biomimetic sharkskin riblet for the adaptation of drag reduction

Abstract

The biomimetic sharkskin riblet has attracted more attention in engineering and research owing to the economic benefit of drag-reducing and antifouling properties. Although several works have optimized the parameters for a number of riblet designs, there is not yet a study dedicated to optimizing for rectangular cuboidal riblet parameters. Hence, this work proposes a new numerical optimization of riblet orientations and arrangements of a three-dimensional rectangular cuboidal riblet. The shear-stress transport k-omega was adopted as an appropriate turbulence model for the simulation. The results showed that the riblets efficiently improved drag reduction regardless of the flow state. Riblets oriented perpendicularly to the flow direction showed the greatest performance of 11.3% and 6% in the laminar and turbulent flow, respectively. Moreover, the analysis of the flow field characteristics near the wall revealed a significant improvement in terms of reduction in near-wall velocity and shear stress. This work offers new perspectives on the role of the intricate multifunctional architecture of shark-scale structures in improving swimming speed and opening new doors for marine and underwater applications.