dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaShell Model for Drag Reduction with Polymer Additive in Homogeneous Turbulence
| Authors | Roberto Benzi, Elisabetta De Angelis, Rama Govindarajan, Itamar Procaccia |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0304091 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0304091 |
| DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevE.68.016308 |
Abstract
Recent direct numerical simulations of the FENE-P model of non-Newtonian hydrodynamics revealed that the phenomenon of drag reduction by polymer additives exists (albeit in reduced form) also in homogeneous turbulence. We introduce here a simple shell model for homogeneous viscoelastic flows that recaptures the essential observations of the full simulations. The simplicity of the shell model allows us to offer a transparent explanation of the main observations. It is shown that the mechanism for drag reduction operates mainly on the large scales. Understanding the mechanism allows us to predict how the amount of drag reduction depends of the various parameters in the model. The main conclusion is that drag reduction is not a universal phenomenon, it peaks in a window of parameters like Reynolds number and the relaxation rate of the polymer.
{
"annotation_id": "8a2b10a6-ba80-45d9-baac-7aa2c612b993",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:00:43.007000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:00:43.007000Z",
"file_hash": "30d667529c4bca2a5b6844dca51fa6e8ca6dfd5dae1bc66a970e42a2e3dd3d6b",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "Recent direct numerical simulations of the FENE-P model of non-Newtonian\nhydrodynamics revealed that the phenomenon of drag reduction by polymer\nadditives exists (albeit in reduced form) also in homogeneous turbulence. We\nintroduce here a simple shell model for homogeneous viscoelastic flows that\nrecaptures the essential observations of the full simulations. The simplicity\nof the shell model allows us to offer a transparent explanation of the main\nobservations. It is shown that the mechanism for drag reduction operates mainly\non the large scales. Understanding the mechanism allows us to predict how the\namount of drag reduction depends of the various parameters in the model. The\nmain conclusion is that drag reduction is not a universal phenomenon, it peaks\nin a window of parameters like Reynolds number and the relaxation rate of the\npolymer.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0304091",
"authors": [
"Roberto Benzi",
"Elisabetta De Angelis",
"Rama Govindarajan",
"Itamar Procaccia"
],
"categories": [
"physics.flu-dyn"
],
"doi": "10.1103/PhysRevE.68.016308",
"title": "Shell Model for Drag Reduction with Polymer Additive in Homogeneous Turbulence",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0304091"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "76bbaa61-b04d-41f2-9f82-4f73e72ae376",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}