Microbubble Skin Friction Reduction on an Axisymmetric Body

Abstract

A reduction in skin friction drag is shown when gas is introduced into the liquid turbulent boundary layer of a submerged axisymmetric body. The 89 mm diameter, 632 mm long body has an cylindrical balance 273 mm long. Free stream speeds in the 305 mm diameter tunnel are as high as 17 m/sec, giving length Reynolds numbers of up to 10 million. In general, skin friction reduction is shown to increase with increasing free stream speed. At high speeds, helium injection is shown to be more effective at reducing skin friction than is air injection. Maximum skin friction reduction is near 80%--a value in good agreement, with the maximum value observed in the flat plate work of Madavan, Deutsch and Merkle (MDM). Maximum skin friction reduction is found at 17 m/sec for the axisymmetric case, however, as opposed to 5 m/sec for flat plate work.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 02, 1985
Accession Number
ADA247709

Entities

People

  • J. Castano
  • S. Deutsch

Organizations

  • Pennsylvania State University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Sensors
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boundary Layer
  • Boundary Layer Control
  • Boundary Layer Flow
  • Buoyancy
  • Drag
  • Drag Reduction
  • Engineering
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Fluid Mechanics
  • Free Stream
  • Gas Flow
  • Leading Edges
  • Mechanics
  • Physics
  • Pressure Distribution
  • Pressure Measurement
  • Reynolds Number

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Dynamics.
  • Mathematics or Statistics