Drag reduction of turbulent pipe flows by circular-wall oscillation

Abstract

An experimental study on turbulent pipe flows was conducted with a view to reduce their friction drag by oscillating a section of the pipe in a circumferential direction. The results indicated that the friction factor of the pipe is reduced by as much as 25% as a result of active manipulation of near-wall turbulence structure by circular-wall oscillation. An increase in the bulk velocity was clearly shown when the pipe was oscillated at a constant head, supporting the measured drag reduction in the present experiment. The percentage reduction in pipe friction was found to be better scaled with the nondimensional velocity of the oscillating wall than with its nondimensional period, confirming a suggestion that the drag reduction seem to be resulted from the realignment of longitudinal vortices into a circumferential direction by the wall oscillation.