The skin of fast-swimming sharks exhibits riblet structures aligned in the direction of flow that are known to reduce skin friction drag in the turbulent-flow regime. Structures have been fabricated for study and application that replicate and improve upon the natural shape of the shark-skin riblets, providing a maximum drag reduction of nearly 10 per cent. Mechanisms of fluid drag in turbulent...

This work investigates the ability of Coanda jet blowing to modify the base pressure of a cylindrical body aligned axially in a flow, and thereby, produce overall drag reduction. It is found that blowing through one or two slot jets concentric to the outer body circumference can significantly influence the entire base flow region. The recirculating wake is eliminated and is replaced by freestre...

Adaptive airfoils and wings can provide superior performance at the expense of increased cost and complexity. In this paper, an aerodynamic optimization algorithm is used to assess an adaptive airfoil concept for drag reduction at transonic speeds. The objective is to quantify both the improvements in drag that can be achieved and the magnitude of the shape changes needed. In an initial study, ...

Hierarchical laser-patterned surfaces were tested for their drag reduction abilities. A tertiary level of surface roughness which supports stable Cassie wetting was achieved on the patterned copper samples by laser-scanning multiple times. The laser-fabricated micro/nano structures sustained the shear stress in liquid flow. A rheometer setup was used to measure the drag reduction abilities in t...

The existence of drag reduction by polymer additives, well established for wall-bounded turbulent flows, is controversial in homogeneous, isotropic turbulence. To settle this controversy, we carry out a high-resolution direct numerical simulation of decaying, homogeneous, isotropic turbulence with polymer additives. Our study reveals clear manifestations of drag-reduction-type phenomena: On the...

Lines of energy are deposited ahead of supersonic and hypersonic vehicles in order to create a low-density channel, through which a vehicle can travel with dramatically reduced drag. Temperature and pressure are both also reduced on the front surfaces of the vehicle, while density and pressure are increased at the vehicle base. When applied off-center, this technique can be used to control the ...

Crude oil plays an important role in providing the energy supply of the world, and pipelines have long been recognized as the safest and most efficient means of transporting oil and its products. However, the transportation process also faces the challenges of asphaltene-paraffin structural interactions, pipeline pressure losses and energy consumption. In order to determine the role of drag-red...

0045-7949/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. A doi:10.1016/j.compstruc.2010.09.001 ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M Colorado.edu (O.V. Vasilyev), [email protected] (P. Koum We present results from the shape optimization of linked bodies for drag reduction in simulations of incompressible flow at moderate Reynolds numbers. The optimization relies on the cov...

Aerodynamic drag is an important factor in vehicles fuel consumption. Pressure drag which is the main component of total drag is a result of boundary layer separation from vehicle surface. Flow control methods are applied to avoid or at least delay separation. Depending upon whether these methods consume energy to control the flow or not, they are called active or passive control methods. In th...