Superhydrophobic surfaces hold immense potential in underwater
drag reduction. However, as the Reynolds number increases, the drag
reduction rate decreases, and it may even lead to a drag increase.
The reason lies in the collapse of the air mattress. To address this
issue, this paper develops a pyramid-shaped robust superhydrophobic
surface with wedged microgrooves, which exhibits a high gas fraction
when immersed underwater and good ability to achieve complete spreading
and recovery of the air mattress through air replenishment in the
case of collapse of the air mattress. Pressure drop tests in a water
tunnel confirm that with continuous air injection, the drag reduction
reaches 64.8% in laminar flow conditions, substantially greater than
38.4% in the case without air injection, and can achieve 50.8% drag
reduction in turbulent flow. This result highlights the potential
applications of superhydrophobic surfaces with air mattress recovery
for drag reduction.