Analysis of drag reduction mechanism of the bionic microscopic riblets surface

Part of marine organism body surface structures which formed to adapt the environment in their evolutionary process had low surface drag. The bionic non-smooth riblets surface which based on the study of shark skin scales´ microscopic structure provided a new kind of low-drag surface microscopic topological structure. In this paper, through the fluid numerical simulation and analyses of the bionic riblets surface, the existence of the riblets´ tip which caused the secondary vorticity was considered as the main reason of drag reduction. The study provided some ideas of exploring the drag reduction mechanism of the microscopic riblets structure.