Frictional drag reduction by bubble injection in turbulent boundary layers: Experiment with long model ship and full-scale estimation

Abstract

Drag reduction by bubble injection in turbulent boundary layers was investigated using a 36-m-long flat-bottom model ship. The model ship was towed at 8.0 m/s, resulting in a downstream-distance-based Reynolds number as high as 2.9 × 10⁸. The total resistance exerting on the model ship was reduced, and the resistance reduction increased with the air flow rate for the bubble injection. The local wall shear stress on the bottom plate was measured at multiple locations to clarify the streamwise transition of the drag reduction. The local drag reduction observed at the upstream measurement locations was increased with the air flow rate. The higher gas flow rate, moreover, produced the longer streamwise persistence of the drag-reduction effect. These multiple factors improved the efficiency of the total resistance reduction against the power consumption for the bubble injection. We provide the estimation of total frictional drag reduction for the full-scale ships using the equation of the local friction coefficient obtained experimentally. The results of the model ship experiment and the full-scale estimation consistently indicated that the downstream persistence of the local drag-reduction effect strongly affect the total drag reduction of such the long hulls.