Drag reduction studies in water using polymers and their combinations

Enhancing the flow rate by reducing the drag in turbulent flows of fluids is a highly significant phenomenon with reference to many industries viz., oil, marine, irrigation, biomedical etc to reduce power consumption. This drag reduction could be mostly achieved by adding polymeric additives, also referred to as drag reducing agents (DRAs) to the fluid in trace amounts. In this study, pressure driven set-up with pipes of different diameters and roughness levels has been employed to study drag reduction by polymers like PEO, PAM, PAA, HPMC in water systems. The objective of the work was to identify the optimum set of process parameters in terms of polymer nature and its concentration, pipe diameter and its roughness, methodology adopted to maximize maximum drag reduction. The results achieved were then validated with well proven concepts and reported studies.