Effect of coconut fiber suspensions on drag reduction in circular pipe

Abstract

Pipeline system as fluid transport is very commonly used. Thus, the drag reduction becomes very interesting to be studied because it is related to energy efficiency. One method of drag reduction is the active method by adding drag reduction additive agents such as surfactants, polymers, nanofluids, and fibers. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of coconut fiber on drag reduction by adding coconut fiber with varied concentration. The experimental was experimented by using circular pipe ID 38 mm with 1200 mm length. The test fluid was coconut fiber suspension with concentration 300, 500, and 1000 ppm. This study was conducted from low Reynolds Number until Reynolds Number about 25,000. In this research condition, the results showed that the drag reduction on circular pipe ID 38 was about 7.6% in the Reynolds Number about 25,000. The maximum drag reduction was for coconut fiber suspension with concentration 1000 ppm. The drag reduction increases with the increase of coconut fiber suspension concentration. Based on this research, it can be concluded that coconut fiber can be used as a drag reducing agent which save natural resources and environmentally friendly.