Early transition, relaminarization and drag reduction in the flow of polymer solutions through microtubes

Abstract

Experiments are performed to investigate the onset of early transition and drag reduction in the flow of polymer (polyacrylamide and polyethylene oxide) solutions through rigid microtubes of diameters in the range 0.49–2.84 mm. We measure friction factor variation with Reynolds number for varying polymer concentrations and tube diameters, and the Reynolds number, .