Numerical Investigation on Drag Reduction Mechanisms of Biomimetic Microstructure Surfaces

Biomimetic microstructured surfaces offer a promising passive strategy for drag reduction in marine and aerospace applications. This study employs computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to systematically investigate the drag reduction performance and mechanisms of groove-type microstructures, addressing both geometry selection and dimensional optimization. Three representative geometries (V-groove, blade-groove, and arc-groove) were compared under identical flow conditions (inflow velocity 5 m/s, Re = 7.5 × 105) using the shear-stress-transport (SST k-ω) turbulence model, and the third-generation Ω criterion was employed for threshold-independent vortex identification. The results establish a clear performance hierarchy: blade-groove achieves the highest drag reduction rate of 18.2%, followed by the V-groove (16.5%) and arc-groove (14.7%). The analysis reveals that stable near-wall microvortices form dynamic vortex isolation layers that separate the high-speed flow from the groove valleys, with blade grooves generating the strongest and most fully developed vortex structures. A parametric study of blade-groove aspect ratios (h+/s+ = 0.35–1.0) further demonstrates that maintaining h+/s+ ≥ 0.75 preserves effective vortex-isolation layers, whereas reducing h+/s+ below 0.6 causes vortex collapse and performance degradation. These findings establish a comprehensive design framework combining geometry selection (blade-groove > V-groove > arc-groove) with dimensional optimization criteria, providing quantitative guidance for practical biomimetic drag-reducing surfaces.