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A study on coherent structures and drag-reduction in the wall turbulence with polymer additives by TRPIV

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Abstract

An experimental measurement was performed using time-resolved particle image velocimetry (TRPIV) to investigate the spatial topological character of coherent structures in wall-bounded turbulence of polymer additive solution. The fully developed near-wall turbulent flow fields with and without polymer additives at the same Reynolds number were measured by TRPIV in a water channel. The comparisons of turbulent statistics confirm that due to viscoelastic structure of long-chain polymers, the wall-normal velocity fluctuation and Reynolds shear stress in the near-wall region are suppressed significantly. Furthermore, it is noted that such a behavior of polymers is closely related to the decease of the motion of the second and forth quadrants, i.e., the ejection and sweep events, in the near-wall region. The spatial topological mode of coherent structures during bursts has been extracted by the new mu-level criteria based on locally averaged velocity structure function. Although the general shapes of coherent structures are unchanged by polymer additives, the fluctuating velocity, velocity gradient, velocity strain rate and vorticity of coherent structures during burst events are suppressed in the polymer additive solution compared with that in water. The results show that due to the polymer additives the occurrence and intensity of coherent structures are suppressed, leading to drag reduction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanics, Tianjin University, 300072, Tianjin, China

    Xin-Lei Guan, Shi-Yong Yao & Nan Jiang

  2. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Modern Engineering Mechanics, 300072, Tianjin, China

    Nan Jiang

  3. The State Key Laboratory of Nonlinear Mechanics, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100190, Beijing, China

    Nan Jiang

  4. Nankai University-Tianjin University Center for Liu Hui Applied Mathematics, 300072, Tianjin, China

    Nan Jiang

Authors
  1. Xin-Lei Guan
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  2. Shi-Yong Yao
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  3. Nan Jiang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nan Jiang.

Additional information

The project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11272233), National Key Basic Research and Development Program (2012CB720101) and 2012 opening subjects of The State Key Laboratory of Nonlinear Mechanics (LNM), Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Guan, XL., Yao, SY. & Jiang, N. A study on coherent structures and drag-reduction in the wall turbulence with polymer additives by TRPIV. Acta Mech Sin 29, 485–493 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-013-0035-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-013-0035-0

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