Method to minimize polymer degradation in drag-reduced non-Newtonian turbulent boundary layers

Abstract

Polymer solutions are often used to produce drag-reduced fluid flows, in which the drag reduction is achieved due to the solutions’ non-Newtonian shear-thinning and viscoelastic properties. However, experiments using polymer solutions are typically challenging due to the tendency of the polymer to degrade when subjected to intense shearing. The degradation reduces the amount of drag reduction as the experiment progresses, which limits the experiment duration and the accuracy of the results. Here we introduce a method to avoid the degradation of the polymer solution by driving the flow with a paddlewheel instead of a conventional pump. The solution is shown to undergo very little degradation during the paddlewheel’s operation. The method is then applied to perform novel measurements of a drag-reduced turbulent boundary layer at two different Reynolds numbers, both with and without a suspended particle phase. The effects of carrier fluid rheology and Reynolds number on the particle concentration and velocity profiles are explored, as well as the effect on total drag of the flow. For a given fluid type and Reynolds number, the drag is found to be nearly constant with the global particle volume fraction, suggesting that the particles have a limited ability to modulate the drag. Remarkably, the particle velocity fluctuations are greater in the non-Newtonian cases, possibly due to enhanced collisions in the near-wall region.