The invention provides a
system and method for turbulent flow drag reduction using discrete counter-rotating elements disposed adjacent a
bounding surface and arranged to effectively disrupt or suppress
stream-wise vortices and / or traveling
waves thereby reducing turbulence and increasing fluid flow. In embodiments, the counter-rotating elements effectively decouple the interaction between traveling
waves and
stream-wise vortices. By using discrete counter-rotating elements as disclosed, the energy input to the counter-rotating elements is advantageously less than the energy gained from the flow rate increase. The counter-rotating elements may comprise e.g., counter-rotating strips, counter-rotating disks or a plurality of sequentially activated jets. In addition, the
bounding surface may comprise a section or
pipe, a substantially planar surface, etc. The counter-rotating elements may be used along a section of a
pipe, on a surface of an aircraft wing, in
HVAC systems, etc. Examples of fluids include, but are not limited to: water, air,
natural gas, oil, etc.