Salivary mucins for turbulent drag reduction
Name
132702_1_5.0321621.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.48 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
16a28dc6a43ecb1f472a2bd1a2833715
Author(s)
Warwaruk, Lucas
Degen, George D
Cersosimo, Camila
McKinley, Gareth H
Date Issued
April 3, 2026
Journal
Applied Physics Letters
Publisher
AIP Publishing
Citation
Lucas Warwaruk, George D. Degen, Camila Cersosimo, Gareth H. McKinley; Salivary mucins for turbulent drag reduction. Appl. Phys. Lett. 30 March 2026; 128 (13): 132702.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The operational efficiency of fire suppression systems, municipal sewage networks, marine vehicles, and various other technologies are constrained by the large viscous frictional drag associated with fluid turbulence. This provides a strong incentive to develop engineering strategies that attenuate turbulence, ultimately mitigating the carbon footprint of large-scale hydrodynamic applications. We demonstrate the effective use of natural salivary mucins as a cost-effective, widely accessible drag-reducing additive. Diluted samples of human saliva are shown to substantially reduce frictional drag (up to 30%), with similar efficacy as synthetic drag-reducing polymers. Saliva contains long glycoproteins that can physically associate to form a supramolecular network with a large extensional viscosity. The non-Newtonian rheology of dilute solutions of glycoproteins makes them well-suited for turbulent drag reduction (DR). Under sustained turbulent flow conditions, the supramolecular associations of the mucin network slow the effects of mechanical degradation, resulting in more persistent DR compared to synthetic hydrocarbon polymers.
MIT Department
Hatsopoulos Microfluids Laboratory (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0321621
