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  • Open Access

Enhancement of drag reduction in particle-laden turbulent flows under span-wise wall oscillation

Jiafeng Xie1, Jianxin Hu2, Chenlin Zhu3,*, Xiaoxuan Kang1, and Dingyi Pan1,†

  • 1State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems and Department of Engineering Mechanics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
  • 2Key Laboratory of Fluid Transmission Technology of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China
  • 3Key Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing Quality Big Data Tracing and Analysis of Zhejiang Province, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, China

  • *Contact author: zhuclgary@foxmail.com
  • †Contact author: dpan@zju.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. Research 7, 043064 – Published 16 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/b81f-6gvc

Abstract

We report that span-wise sinusoidal wall oscillations can significantly reduce drag in wall-bounded turbulent flows laden with neutrally buoyant, finite-size spherical particles—surpassing the drag reduction observed in corresponding single-phase flows. Direct numerical simulations reveal that this enhanced drag reduction arises from a coupling mechanism between the suspended particles and the wall motion. The span-wise Stokes flow induces particle migration toward the channel center and suppresses near-wall turbulence, thereby reducing the effective viscosity. Quantitatively, we identify an approximately linear relationship linking the coupling-induced drag reduction to both the oscillation-driven variation in near-wall particle volume fraction and the influence of particle size. These findings uncover a previously unrecognized synergistic mechanism for turbulent multiphase drag reduction, bridging Einstein's viscosity model with turbulent boundary layer theory. This insight suggests a approach to actively control wall-bounded multiphase turbulence, with broad implications for fluid mechanics and complex flow systems.

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Phys. Rev. Research 7, 043064– Published 16 October, 2025
  • Received 19 June 2025
  • Accepted 2 October 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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