Turbulent drag in a rotating frame

TL;DR

This study investigates how rotation affects turbulent drag in fluids, revealing significant drag reduction linked to flow two-dimensionalization and inertial wave interactions, supported by experimental torque measurements and flow visualization.

Contribution

It demonstrates a substantial reduction in turbulent drag with increasing rotation rate and links this to flow two-dimensionalization and inertial wave dynamics, providing new insights into rotating turbulence.

Findings

Drag reduces to 12% of non-rotating values at high rotation rates

Drag coefficient scales approximately as the Rossby number

Flow becomes more two-dimensional with increased rotation

Abstract

What is the turbulent drag force experienced by an object moving in a rotating fluid? This open and fundamental question can be addressed by measuring the torque needed to drive an impeller at constant angular velocity $\omega$ in a water tank mounted on a platform rotating at a rate $\Omega$. We report a dramatic reduction in drag as $\Omega$ increases, down to values as low as $12$\% of the non-rotating drag. At small Rossby number $Ro = \omega/\Omega$, the decrease in drag coefficient $K$ follows the approximate scaling law $K \sim Ro$, which is predicted in the framework of nonlinear inertial wave interactions and weak-turbulence theory. However, stereoscopic particle image velocimetry measurements indicate that this drag reduction rather originates from a weakening of the turbulence intensity in line with the two-dimensionalization of the large-scale flow.