Hopf bifurcation in mixed convection flow inside a rectangular cavity (Q2370993)

The paper studies the mixed convection flow inside a rectangular lid-driven cavity. It is assumed that two vertical walls are maintained at cold temperature \(T=0\). In one case the top-moving wall is maintained at hot temperature \(T=1\) and the bottom is cold \((T=0)\), and in the other case the top-moving wall is cold and the bottom is hot \((T=1)\). Depending on these two situations, the Grashof number will be either positive or negative. In all cases, the gravity vector is acting in the negative \(y\)-direction (parallel to the vertical walls). The integral form of governing equations is solved numerically using finite volume method. SIMPLE algorithm is used to couple the momentum and continuity equations. A deferred QUICK scheme is employed to minimize the numerical diffusion for convective terms for both the momentum equations and energy equation. Results are obtained for Reynolds number \(Re=100\), Grashof number \(Gr\) has been varied between \(0, \pm10^4,\pm10^5,\pm10^6\), and aspect ratio \(AR=0.5, 1\) and 2 keeping the Prandtl number \(Pr=1\). Results are presented in the form of local and average Nusselt number distributions as well as for streamlines and isotherms in the range of Grashof numbers and aspect ratio mentioned above. It is found that for \(AR=2.0\) and \(Gr=-10^5\), and above, the flow undergoes a Hopf bifurcation. The flow does not remain steady any more and becomes transient. Other interesting results are also reported in this paper.