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Experimental research on drag reduction by polymer additives in a turbulent pipe flow
Author(s) -
Xueming Shao,
Jianzhong Lin,
Tao Wu,
Yulin Li
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.5450800215
Subject(s) - drag , turbulence , reynolds number , mechanics , pipe flow , vortex , polymer , materials science , drag coefficient , flow (mathematics) , reynolds stress , parasitic drag , physics , composite material
In order to investigate the effects of injection position on drag reduction as well as further the effects of polymer additives on turbulent structures, LDA measurements of turbulent pipe flows were conducted. The results show that the amount of drag reduction grows with the increase of the Reynolds number, and injecting the polymer at the centre of pipe is more effective than at the wall. Due to the addition of polymer solution, the axial, radial r.m.s. velocity fluctuations and Reynolds stress decrease over the entire pipe cross‐section, the time auto‐correlation coefficients of axial and radial velocity fluctuation at the centre of pipe decay more slowly, the number of spectrum peaks is decreased, and the peak shifts towards lower wave numbers. The results also reveal that, due to the addition of polymer solution, the large‐scale vortices are enhanced and small‐scale vortices are suppressed.