DNS and Experimental Assessment of Shark-Denticle-Inspired Anisotropic Porous Substrates for Drag Reduction

Passive flow control methods are widely used to reduce drag in wall-bounded flows. A recent numerical study on separating turbulent flows over a bump covered with shark denticles revealed the formation of a reverse pore flow (RPF) beneath the denticle crowns under an adverse pressure gradient (APG). This RPF generates an upstream thrust, leading to drag reduction. Motivated by these findings, the present study investigates a bio-inspired Anisotropic Permeable Propulsive Substrate (APPS) that incorporates key geometric features of the shark denticles, enabling thrust generation by the RPF. The designed APPS is evaluated through both direct numerical simulations of turbulent channel flows at Reτ = 1500 and experiments using 3D-printed structures in a turbulent boundary layer over a flat-plate model subjected to APG and flow separation (at Reθ = 800). Both approaches demonstrate that the APPS successfully reproduces the RPF-induced thrust mechanism of shark denticles. The results further reveal the dependence of the pore flow on pressure gradient and substrate geometry. This work highlights two features of a thrust-generating APPS: a top surface that shields the porous media from the overlying flow while enabling vertical mass exchange, and a bottom region with dominant wall-parallel permeability, which guides the pore flow in the streamwise direction to generate the thrust.