Simulation of drag reduction in superhydrophobic microchannels based on parabolic gas-liquid interfaces

Based on the given parabolic gas-liquid interfaces, a two-dimensional fluid flow in superhydrophobic microchannels is numerically simulated with the steady volume of fluid model in the laminar regime. The influence of several crucial parameters on drag reduction effect is discussed. The results indicate that the superhydrophobic microchannel containing rectangular cavities displays significant drag reduction effect. With increasing inlet velocity, the pressure drop reduction decreases slightly. Augments in the pressure drop reduction tend to be large with the increase of the cavity fraction or the decrease of the channel height. The results also reveal that the variation of the normalized slip length with the cavity fraction tends to be more dramatic when the channel height is smaller. As the parabolic height of the gas-liquid interface is enlarged, both the pressure drop reduction and the normalized slip length decrease linearly, while fRe increases linearly. The impact of the cavity depth on the normalized slip length, fRe, and the pressure drop reduction is minimal supposing the depth of the cavity is greater than 40% of its width. The drag reduction effect corresponding to the dovetail cavity model is the best, and the consequence of the rectangular, trapezoidal, and triangular cavity models sequentially worsens. Published by AIP Publishing.