Turbulent Drag Reduction Effect by Hydrogen and Oxygen Microbubbles Made by Electrolysis

Turbulent drag reduction by very small hydrogen microbubbles was investigated experimentally. The method for generating microbubbles of 10–60 μm by water electrolysis was established firstly. Experiments were carried out using a circulating water tunnel, and it was observed that the small microbubbles generated by electrolysis can achieve the same drag reduction as the injected air bubbles at much lower void fraction. The distribution of microbubble was examined using the microscope photography. The peak of local void fraction was found to be very close to the wall, while no correlation was found between the average bubble diameter and the distance from the channel wall. The present experimental results suggest that the very small microbubbles produced by electrolysis are 10∼100 times more effective in terms of the drag reduction than large bubbles made by air injection. So it is considered that the diameters of microbubbles play an important role to drag reduction.