Drag reduction of turbulent boundary layer over sawtooth riblet surface with superhydrophobic coat

The application of drag reduction tech holds great significance to energy saving. To achieve better drag reduction, we investigated the flow characteristics of the turbulent boundary layer (TBL) over a composite surface made of sawtooth riblets with superhydrophobic coat (rib&SHS), a superhydrophobic surface (SHS), and a smooth surface using particle image velocimetry. The results showed that the drag reduction rate of the composite surface was higher than that of the superhydrophobic surface at the same Reynolds number. When the Reynolds number reached 2015, the drag reduction effect of SHS was almost ineffective (drag reduction was only 1.2%), whereas rib&SHS maintained satisfactory results (drag reduction was 20.2%). By proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), the second-order POD mode showed the tilt angles of the interface of Q2 and Q4 events inside the TBL over rib&SHS, and SHS were reduced compared with the smooth surface in the drag reduction cases. With drag reduction of rib&SHS and SHS, the hairpin vortexes were lifted away from the wall and the distances of vortexes within hairpin vortex packets decreased. Compared with SHS, rib&SHS had a greater effect on hairpin vortexes and hairpin vortex packets because the riblets made the Q2 events of rib&SHS weaker than that of SHS. So, the rib&SHS has a higher drag reduction rate and a larger drag reduction Reynolds number range than the SHS. It can be used to guide the drag reduction design of underwater vehicles.