Investigation of the effects of superhydrophobic surface treatment on the dynamics of the flow in the near wake of a sphere using spatial dynamic mode decomposition

Viscous drag arises from the fluid at a surface having zero relative velocity, a phenomenon known as the no-slip condition. Superhydrophobic surfaces, when submerged in water, trap a layer of air in their surface texture, partially replacing the liquid–solid interface with a liquid-gas interface. This air layer, called the plastron, results in partial slip at the surface, thereby reducing the viscous drag. In turbulent flows, large fluctuations in pressure and velocity can deplete or completely remove the plastron from the surface. This makes evaluating the effects of superhydrophobic surface treatments on flow dynamics particularly challenging. This study examines the impact of a sustained plastron on the dynamics in the shear layer of a sphere, achieved by supplying air at low pressure through pores in the sphere’s surface. Instantaneous planar velocities in the wakes of spheres, both with and without superhydrophobic surface treatment, are measured within a plane passing through the sphere centres. Dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) is applied to the velocity fluctuations in the shear layer to evaluate how superhydrophobic surface treatment affects the instabilities there. It is shown that the addition of the pores has a relatively small effect on the instabilities in the shear layer, while they are significantly changed by the addition of superhydrophobic surface treatment when the plastron is sustained.