DRAG REDUCTION CHARACTERISTICS OF POLYSACCHARIDE XANTHAN GUM

The turbulent drag reduction characteristics of the rod-like polysacch aride xanthan gum dissolved in water was investigated using a rotating disk apparatus. The ultrasonic degradation method was adopted to obta in polymer fractions of different molecular weights of xanthan gum for this study. The drag reduction curve was then plotted to observe the universal characteristics of xanthan gum, and the intrinsic concentrat ion was found to be an extremely useful quantity in normalizing the dr ag reduction data for different molecular weights.