Polymers injected into riblet grooves dramatically reduce polymer flow rate required for drag reduction. Polymer solution injected into valleys of grooves through array of holes or slots angled downstream to keep injected streams within grooves. Injection repeated some distance downstream because volumes of grooves finite and polymer becomes depleted as slowly pulled from groove by turbulence. Potentially useful for oil tankers as means of markedly reducing cost of fuel and used extensively on submarines, other ships, and other marine vehicles.
Polymers And Riblets Reduce Hydrodynamic Skin Friction
NASA Tech Briefs ; 15 , 10
1991-10-01
Miscellaneous
No indication
English
Riblets for Aircraft Skin-Friction Reduction
NTIS | 1986
|Riblets for aircraft skin-friction reduction
NTRS | 1986
|