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Turbulent drag reduction over air-fed hydrophobic surfaces with longitudinal grooves

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2025

Shijie Qin Open the ORCID record for Shijie Qin [Opens in a new window] ,
Shuai Sun ,
Shuze Tang ,
Zonglong Wang  and
Dazhuan Wu
Shijie Qin
Affiliation:
College of Energy Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, PR China State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, PR China
Shuai Sun
Affiliation:
China Ship Development and Design Center, Wuhan 430064, PR China
Shuze Tang
Affiliation:
College of Energy Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, PR China
Zonglong Wang
Affiliation:
Marine Design and Research Institute of China, Shanghai 200011, PR China
Dazhuan Wu*
Affiliation:
College of Energy Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, PR China State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, PR China
*
Corresponding author: Dazhuan Wu, wudazhuan@zju.edu.cn
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Abstract

This study presents an experimental investigation on the drag reduction (DR) over air-fed hydrophobic surfaces (AFHS) with longitudinal grooves in a turbulent boundary layer (TBL). The AFHS, designed with longitudinal grooves and air supplement channels, enables active maintenance and reversible restoration of the plastron in TBL. The shear stress sensor, particle image velocimetry (PIV) and interfacial visualization are applied for simultaneous measurement of the skin friction drag, TBL velocity profiles and plastron coverage. The AFHS demonstrated the ability to control plastron shape and enhance its sustainability with friction Reynolds numbers up to 1723. Drag reductions ranging from 14.8–35.8 % are obtained over the AFHS. At same designed air fraction, the AFHS exhibits higher DR than the conventional hydrophobic surface. By minimizing influences of the degradation of plastron coverage and the shape, the monotonic increase in DR and slip velocity with Reynolds number is confirmed, which corroborates trends from direct numerical simulations. Turbulence statistics measured by PIV reveal an apparent decrease in near-wall viscous shear stress, and corresponding slip velocities both in the viscous sublayer and log-law region. The Reynolds shear stress and streamwise velocity fluctuations over the AFHS are larger than those over a smooth wall, where near-wall vortex cores of the AFHS are found to be shifted 10 % towards the wall. This study presents the first simultaneous experimental quantification of skin friction, plastron coverage and turbulence statistics under sustained plastron conditions in TBL. The results demonstrate the efficacy of the plastron control strategy on hydrophobic surfaces and address a critical gap in validating numerical predictions for turbulent flows in practical applications.

JFM classification

Flow Control: Drag reduction Turbulent Flows: Turbulent boundary layers Multiphase and Particle-laden Flows: Gas/liquid flow

Information

Type
JFM Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 1015 , 25 July 2025 , A48
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

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