Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of polymer induced drag reduction in turbulent channel
flows up to the maximum drag reduction (MDR) limit have been performed using a fully
spectral method in conjunction with kinetic theory based elastic dumbbell models for the
description of polymer chain dynamics. It is shown that to obtain significant levels of drag
reduction large polymer chain extensibility and high Weissenberg numbers are required. In
addition, it is demonstrated that to capture flow dynamics in the high drag reduction (HDR) …