Drag reduction by dimples? – A complementary experimental/numerical investigation

The paper is concerned with an experimental and numerical investigation of the turbulent flow over dimpled surfaces. Shallow dimples distributed regularly over the wall of a plane channel with large aspect ratio are used to study their effect on the friction drag. The resulting pressure drop in the channel was measured for smooth and dimpled walls. In addition to these investigations on internal flows, an external flow study was performed and boundary-layer profiles were measured using a Pitot-tube rake. Complementary to the measurements, direct numerical simulations for the internal flow configuration with and without dimples were carried out for two different grid resolutions and analyzed in detail. The objective was to clarify whether or not dimples cause reduction of the skin-friction drag.