The holy grail of microfluidics: sub-laminar drag by layout of periodically embedded microgrooves

The sub-laminar drag effect of microgroove surfaces was studied numerically in a steady two-dimensional channel flow at subcritical Reynolds numbers. Considerations are restricted to grooves of a few viscous length scales in depth, which are assumed not to promote the laminar to turbulent transition process. It was found that the drag reduction effect is due to the layout of grooves with respect to the flow direction and contour geometry. Results of computations show that for grooves of curved contour placed normal to the flow direction, drag arising from viscous and pressure forces is modulated due to the functional dependence of forces on the surface area projected in the flow direction. Such a groove layout leads to a large skin-friction reduction, but a comparable increase in pressure drag results in sub-laminar drag if drag over flat surface is considered as a reference. For a curved groove contour, the drag reduction increases with increasing Reynolds number and reaches about 5 % at Reynolds numbers approaching critical.