Skin friction drag reduction over staggered three dimensional cavities

Erwin R. Gowree, Chetan Jagadeesh, Chris Atkin

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Abstract

The effect of three-dimensional staggered circular cavities on a zero-pressure gradient incompressible turbulent boundary layer was studied. Two key parameters were varied, being the ratio of the diameter, d, to the depth, h, of the cavity, d/h and the Reynolds number based on the diameter of the cavity, Rd. Velocity profile measurements showed that for the cases of d/h>1 an increase in skin friction drag was experienced with respect to a smooth surface, but for d/h<1 the drag increment was almost negligible and in some cases it was lower than that of a smooth surface by up to 10%. Measurements along the spanwise plane showed the presence of organised transverse velocity components which bear some resemblance with the flow over riblets. The skin friction drag appears to be a strong function of Rd , where for Rd>5500 a drag increment is experienced which could potentially be due to shear layer breakdown and more production of turbulence.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)520-529
Number of pages10
JournalAerospace Science and Technology
Volume84
Early online date6 Nov 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2019

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