Marked drag reduction in non-affine viscoelastic turbulence in homogeneous isotropic and pipe flows

Effect of non-affinity of the molecular motions to the macroscopic deformation in the polymer-diluted flow on turbulent drag reduction (DR) is studied using the DNS data for homogeneous isotropic turbulence and pipe flow. The polymer stress is obtained by solving the non-affine Johnson-Segalman constitutive equation. In both flows, DR is maximal when non-affinity is either minimum or maximum, but the largest reduction is achieved when non-affinity is maximum. As an extreme case, in pipe flow, the mean velocity profile exceeds the Virk's maximum DR limit and almost complete relaminarization of turbulent state is achieved. The normal-stress difference (NSD) is obtained on the basis of new eigenvectors which span the isosurfaces of vortex tube and sheet. It is shown that the first NSD is predominantly positive, while the second NSD is negative along the sheets and tubes. Thus, an extra tension is exerted on the sheet and tube. With an increase of effective viscosity by an addition of elongation viscosity, resistance of the sheet and tube to their stretching is enhanced. The principal mechanism for DR when non-affinity is maximum is that the transformation of the sheet into the tube is restrained because the sheet tends to snap back to the original flat form. When non-affinity is minimum, the tubes are created but its stretching is suppressed by annihilation of lowering of the pressure in the tube-core region. In both cases, cascade of the energy into the small scales is diminished leading to the reduction of drag.