Turbulence modulation by finite-size spherical particles in Newtonian and viscoelastic fluids

Abstract

We experimentally investigate the influence of finite-size spherical particles in turbulent flows of a Newtonian and a drag reducing viscoelastic fluid at varying particle volume fractions and fixed Reynolds number. Experiments are performed in a square duct at a Reynolds number $Re_{2H}$ of nearly $1.1\times10^4$, Weissenberg number $Wi$ for single-phase flow is between 1-2 and results in a drag-reduction of 43% compared to a Newtonian flow (at the same $Re_{2H}$). Particles are almost neutrally-buoyant hydrogel spheres having a density ratio of 1.0035$\pm$0.0003 and a duct height ${2H}$ to particle diameter $d_p$ ratio of around 10. We measure flow statistics for four different volume fractions $\phi$ namely 5, 10, 15 and 20% by using refractive-index-matched Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). For both Newtonian Fluid (NF) and Viscoelastic Fluid (VEF), the drag monotonically increases with $\phi$. For NF, the magnitude of drag increase due to particle addition can be reasonably estimated using a concentration dependent effective viscosity for volume fractions below 10%. The drag increase is, however, underestimated at higher $\phi$. For VEF, the absolute value of drag is lower than NF but, its rate of increase with $\phi$ is higher. Similar to particles in a NF, particles in VEF tend to migrate towards the center of the duct and form a layer of high concentration at the wall. Interestingly, relatively higher migration towards the center and lower migration towards the walls is observed for VEF. The primary Reynolds shear stress reduces with increasing $\phi$ throughout the duct height for both types of fluid.