Computational investigation of non-isothermal lid-driven flow in arc-shape cavities

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the numerical analysis of laminar unsteady flow and heat transfer in lid-driven arc-shape cavities with different aspect ratios for which the top lid, maintained at lower temperature, is driven at a uniform speed and the bottom stationary wall is maintained at higher temperature. The buoyancy force resulted by the temperature difference across the wall and the lid of the cavity is controlled by Richardson number, whereas Reynolds number represents the strength of inertia generated by the shear force along the lid. In order to reveal the effects of temperature difference and lid motion on flow pattern and thermal distribution, wide ranges of Reynolds and Richardson numbers are selected and the results are plotted in terms of streamlines and isotherms. Governing equations are discretized based on finite difference technique and these equations are applied to computational grids generated by body fitted coordinate transformation method. Aspect ratio effects on flow and thermal behavior are also investigated. Moreover, heat transfer performance and shear stress are demonstrated in terms of local and average Nusselt numbers and local friction factor, respectively.