Study of Drag Forces on a Designed Surface in Bubbly Water Lubrication Using Electrolysis

To study the drag reduction effect of a bubbly fluid, a pin-disk experiment is performed on the Universal Micro Tribotester system. Bubbles are generated by water electrolysis in holes that are specially designed on the disk surface. Experiment result shows that the drag force experiences a dynamic process, both drag reduction and drag increment effects appear in the process depending on the bubble behavior. This process is numerically simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and the explanations for the drag variation are given based on the analysis of drag forces on each wall of the disk surface. The drag reduction occurs when the bubble fills the hole, as the viscous drag on the air-liquid surface is small, and the pressure drag is reduced as the side wall of the hole is covered by the bubble. The drag increment is thought to be caused by the increment of the fluid viscosity when the bubble leaves the hole and flows in the fluid.