A tracer dispersion study of the drag-reduction effect in a turbulent pipe flow

Remarkable differences in dispersion of a tracer material injected into turbulent pipe flows of water and water containing as little as 2·5 parts per million by weight of a soluble high-molecular-weight drag-reducing polyoxyethylene additive have been measured. Analysis of the tracer response curves in terms of a simple one-parameter model shows that the observed results are compatible with a drag-reduction mechanism based on thickening of the viscous sublayer adjoining the wall. Other experiments, reported briefly, suggest that polymer adsorption on to the wall is responsible for this thickening.