Measurement of drag reduction in polymer added turbulent flow

✍ Scribed by Nam-Jin Kim; Sin Kim; Sang Hoon Lim; Kuan Chen; Wongee Chun

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 916 KB
• Volume: 36
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0735-1933
• DOI: 10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2009.08.002

✦ Synopsis

In this study, polyethylene oxides were used as a drag reducing additive. The effect of the concentration and molecular weight of the polymer on the level of drag reduction was examined using, 4 molecular weights (2 × 10 5 , 4×10 5 , 9×10 5 and, 4 × 10 6 ) and 4 concentrations (1, 5, 10 and, 20 wppm) of PEO. The hydraulic conditions were varied from a Reynolds number of 30,000 to 60,000. The results showed a N20% drag reduction rate for all molecular weights and constructions of PEO within the range investigated in this study. Moreover, the maximum drag reduction rate was 50% at a molecular weight and concentration of 4 × 10 6 and 20 wppm, respectively. Overall, the results show that the drag reduction effect tends to increase with increasing molecular weight and Reynolds number.