Drag Reducing Riblets and Large Eddy Break Up Devices(LEBU)?

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TheVFireAlex

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Has anyone thought about using or have used riblets or Large Eddy Break Up Devices(LEBU) to decrease skin friction drag for turbulent flow and high Reynolds numbers? I was researching ways to decrease drag for high Reynolds number and a lot of the research paper mention these two things: Drag Reducing Riblets and Large Eddy Break Up Devices(LEBU).

From what I could find, riblets are inspired by the texture of shark skins. Riblets are already being used on commercial aircraft and competition sailing boats. It appears that 3M has collaborated with NASA to develop a plastic riblet film with an adhesive backing to be applied to surfaces that need drag reduction. The papers I have looked at says the optimum spacing for each "ridge" is somewhere around 30-70μm, that's pretty hard to manufacture without special machinery.

As for LEBUs, it appears that there are controversies regarding if they actually work. Some research says they reduce drag while some don't. I haven't found anything that has used them in practical applications.

I was just wondering if any of you have ever looked into both these things or even try them out. What do you guys think about these two things for application on model rockets?


Here are the links to the research paper and websites I have looked at:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsta.2010.0359
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/riblets
https://news.3m.com/press-release/c...ion-bmw-oracle-racing-33rd-americas-cup-match
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/factsheets/Riblets.html
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235339328_Aircraft_Drag_Reduction_An_Overview
https://ulinge0012.wixsite.com/2018
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376042102000489
https://www.mech.kth.se/~ramis/pdfs/AlfredssonOrlu_EDRFCM2017.pdf
 
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