Turbulence intensity modulation by micropolar fluids

Abstract

Fluid microstructure nature has a direct effect on turbulence enhancement or attenuation. Certain classes of fluids, such as polymers, tend to reduce turbulence intensity, while others, like dense suspensions, present the opposite results. In this article, we take into consideration the micropolar class of fluids and investigate turbulence intensity modulation for three different Reynolds numbers, as well as different volume fractions of the micropolar density, in a turbulent channel flow. Our findings support that, for low micropolar volume fractions, turbulence presents a monotonic enhancement as the Reynolds number increases. However, on the other hand, for sufficiently high volume fractions, turbulence intensity drops, along with Reynolds number increment. This result is considered to be due to the effect of the micropolar force term on the flow, suppressing near-wall turbulence and enforcing turbulence activity to move further away from the wall. This is the first time that such an observation is made for the class of micropolar fluid flows, and can further assist our understanding of physical phenomena in the more general non-Newtonian flow regime. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.