Drag reduction regimes in air lubrication

Air lubrication regimes were studied using simultaneous drag force measurements and multi-plane imaging to characterize the regimes and identify the governing mechanisms of drag reduction. A bubbly, transitional, and air layer regime are identified over a large range of freestream velocities ($U_{\infty}$), air flow rates ($Q_{air}$), and Froude-depth numbers ($Fr_d$). For the lowest $U_{\infty}$, drag reduction lags significantly behind the non-wetted area coverage at all cases and no simple correlation exists. Within the bubbly regime, a drag increase is found for low $U_{\infty}$ with large, slow-moving bubbles forming a single layer over the plate height. For higher velocities, bubbles become smaller and disperse vertically, while the drag starts decreasing. For higher $Q_{air}$, irrespective of $U_{\infty}$, air patches start to form (transitional regime) and drag monotonically decreases, with the onset of the air layer regime at 60\% drag reduction. A new scaling of the associated critical $Q_{air}$ is proposed, combining the air exit velocity, the liquid velocity close to the air layer and $Fr_d$. For a further increase of $Q_{air}$ and low $U_{\infty}$, a thicker and smoother air layer is formed with even lower drag; for higher $U_{\infty}$, marginal differences are observed. The air layer morphology is significantly altered however, depending on $Fr_d$: for $Fr_d>0.7$, it is unbounded, extending beyond the current test section length, and for subcritical conditions (deep water regime, $Fr_d<0.61$) a closure is formed and the air layer transitions to a cavity of a specific length.