• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.799-807
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• 2010

Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of turbulent channel flow for which the drag is reduced by using polymer additives have been performed by a pseudo-spectral method. The Reynolds number based on the friction velocity and half-channel height is 395, and the polymeric stresses due to the polymer additives are evaluated using the FENE-P (finitely extensible nonlinear elastic-Peterlin) model. The numerical results show that the drag reduction rate is significantly affected by the parameters used in the FENE-P model, such as the maximum extensibility and relaxation time of the polymer molecules. The turbulence data for both low- and high-drag reduction regimes are analyzed. In addition, the effects of FENE-P model parameters on the flow characteristics have been investigated for the same drag reduction rate due to the polymer additives. Finally, the present DNS results have been used to verify the correlation between rheological parameters and the extent of drag reduction, which was suggested by Li et al. (2006).