Cavity flows driven by buoyancy and shear

Abstract

Fluid motion driven by the combined effects of a moving wall and natura convection is examined for rectangular cavities with heightlwidth ratios of ½, 1 and 2. The Reynolds number and Prandtl number are held fixed at Re = 100 and Pr = 1; the Grashof number is varied over the range of values Gr = 0, ±104, ±106. Flow and temperature fields obtained from numerical solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations reveal a marked influence of buoyancy for the larger aspect ratios when Gr = ±106 and the dominance of buoyancy for all aspect ratios when Gr = ± 106. Results are compared with earlier work where possible and some observations are offered on the convergence of the numerical solutions.