Flow structures and mixing analysis of a Newtonian

fluid in a
Periodically-driven cavity

ABSTRACT

The time dependent fluid flow in a square cavity was studied using model fluids of glycerol water
solution at different frequencies and amplitudes of the motion of the top plate. The range of
Reynolds numbers in our investigation varied from 5-3600. The experiments were carried out in a
square cavity with a periodically driven lid using Particle Image Velocimetry. The flow was driven
by moving the top surface of the cavity in a simple harmonic motion. The aspect ratio defined as the
ratio of cavity width to the cavity height is unity. The ratio of cavity span wise width to the length of
the cavity is 0.2. The temporal variation of velocity at fixed locations in the cavity exhibits a
periodic variation and is in good agreement with the CFD simulations. Comprehensive details of
the flow as a function of Reynolds number were analysed. The evolution of secondary vortices at
different plate positions as a function of Reynolds number is also presented. The quantitative
mixing rate is calculated from the CFD simulations, for the block of fluid represented by the
particle array. The average stretch rate, measure of mixing is found to increase with Re.

Keywords: Periodically-driven cavity, Particle image Velocimetry, SecondaryVortex, Stretch rate

INTRODUCTION

The study of the dynamics of the fluid motion in a lid-driven cavity is a classical problem in fluid
mechanics. It serves as a benchmark or case study for understanding complex flows with closed
circulation. It acts as an idealized representation of many industrial-processing applications such as
short-well and flexible blade coaters. In recent years, the flow in a periodically-driven cavity has
been examined extensively for different operating conditions. Time periodic cavity flows can be
viewed as prototypes for studying mixing processes.
O’Brien theoretically and numerically studied the oscillatory box flow and the results were consistent
with their earlier experimental results. The flow within a 2-D closed finite square cavity, driven by a
sliding wall which executes sinusoidal oscillation was treated by Soh et al. Later Iwatsu et al. studied
flow driven by a torsionally oscillating lid in a square cavity through numerical simulations for a
wide range of Reynolds numbers and frequencies of the oscillating lid. They reported that at low
frequencies the effect of the lid motion penetrates a larger depth into the cavity and flow is similar to
the steady driven cavity flow at the maximum plate velocity. At high frequencies, however, the flow
was confined within a thin layer near the oscillating lid.
Iwatsu et al. analysed the 3-D flow structures in a cubic cavity with an oscillating lid by numerical
simulations. They studied the effect of frequency on the penetration depth. They reported the
presence of the secondary flows at low frequencies illustrating the 3-D nature of the flow. Vogel et
al., studied the vortex dynamics of the flow in a rectangular cavity driven by harmonic oscillation of
the bottom wall using flow visualisation and DPIV measurements. They examined the stability of the
basic state and found the limits within which the system can be approximated as 2-D and can be used
as a surface viscometer.
Roberts and Mackley developed a numerical strategy to study mixing for complex process. The
mixing rate was obtained by two techniques, based on the stretch rate of infinitesimal lines, averaged
over the flow volume. They tested the strategy for a constant volumetric flow and an oscillatory flow
within a baffled channel.
In order to obtain an understanding of the flow behaviour, this work focuses on flow structures with
Newtonian fluids in a periodically driven cavity. Detailed characterisation of such flow structures is
important for understanding and as well as for mixing applications. The mixing rate in terms of local
stretch rate using particle separation method approach was estimated for different flow conditions
from the 2D-CFD simulations.

EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS

The experiments were conducted in a periodically driven cavity (Vogel et al.5). The walls were made
of acrylic sheets. The length (L) of the cavity (along x direction) is 0.1m, the height (H) measured (in
y direction) is 0.1 m and the span wise width (W) of the cavity is 0.02 m (in z direction). The aspect
ratio defined as the ratio of length to height (L/H) of the cavity is unity for our study.

The top plate was designed to move to and fro along the x-direction. The periodic motion of the top
plate was achieved with a drive wheel and connecting rod assembly. The velocity of the plate is
given by, Up= Aω sin(2πft), where A represents the amplitude of the plate (m), ω is the angular
frequency which is given by 2πf where f is the frequency of the plate motion (s-1). The experiments
were conducted at different amplitudes and angular frequencies. The dimensionless Reynolds
number was defined as Re = (UmaxρH)/ μ. Here the maximum velocity of the plate (Umax = Aω) is the
velocity scale, depth of the cavity (H) is the length scale, ρ is the fluid density and μ is the viscosity
of the fluid. We chose our experimental fluid as commercial 99% glycerol. The experiments were
carried out with different viscosities of the glycerol solutions. The viscosities
were measured at 25 oC using a rheometer Physica MCR-301. The corresponding viscosities were
found to be 0.0047 Pa.s (40 vol %), 0.0143 Pa.s (60 vol %), 0.0235 Pa.s (70 vol %), 0.0366 Pa.s (75
vol %), 0.147 Pa.s (95 vol %) and 0.771 Pa.s (99 vol %). The volume % reported here is for glycerol

Experimental Technique
Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), a non-invasive technique was used to get accurate quantitative
information of the instantaneous planar velocity field (LaVision GmBH, Germany). The fluid was
seeded with hollow glass particles of 5 - 10 μm size, supplied by LaVision GmBH, Germany. The
PIV measurements were made using 1mm thick Nd: YAG laser sheet, of 120 mJ pulse energy and
532 nm wavelength, to illuminate the plane of interest. The light scattered by the particles were
recorded with FlowMaster-3S charge coupled device (CCD) camera (1280 x 1024 pixels, 8 Hz) from
La Vision. The PIV acquisition rate was 4 Hz.
The 2-D velocity field measurements in the x-y plane (u - velocity in x direction, v - velocity in y
direction) were done in a field of view 0.094 m ×0.075 m located symmetrically around the center.
Two images were taken within a short interval of time. Each image was subdivided into interrogation
windows of size 3232 pixels. The size of each pixel was 2.94 mm ×2.34 mm. The cross correlation
function for each interrogation window was used to obtain a two-dimensional shift. Subsequent
division by the time interval between two consecutive images yields the velocity components in the
imaging plane. The time interval between two laser pulses for various experiments varied between
0.014 - 0.11s. The vector fields were calculated with an overlap of 50% and the calculated vectors
were post processed by setting an allowable vector range was specified for each velocity component.
All the vectors outside this range were removed. The gaps arising from such a rejection were filled
by interpolation. A median filter was used which computes a median vector from eight neighbouring
vectors. The image analysis was carried out using Davis 6 software (LaVision GmBH). ×
The motion of the top plate was measured experimentally. Since this motion is periodic the velocities
at different points in the flow field also show temporal variations. The flow field is hence a function
of position and time. We are interested in a quantitative comparison of the results of our experiments
with numerical simulations. We describe the flow field at four different top plate positions. At
position 1, the plate moves from the extreme right towards the center. Position 2 corresponds to the
plate at the center of the cavity moving towards the left and position 4 corresponds to the plate at the
center of the cavity moving towards the right. At both positions 2 and 4, the plate velocity is at the
maximum, though in the opposite direction. The plate position when it moves from the left extreme
towards the center is called position 3. The experimental data was collected after the system reached
a terminal state i.e. after the initial transients had decayed.

COMPUTATIONAL TECHNIQUE

The CFD simulations were performed using Fluent 6.1. The 2-D and 3-D geometries were made
using Gambit 2.1. The grid independency was ensured by meshing the geometry with different
spacing between the cells. The quad map type grid with 50000 cells was chosen for 2-D
computations and 266000 cells for 3-D computations for detailed studies. A Periodic boundary
condition on the top plate was imposed using an externally defined macro and the other faces of the
cavity were considered as solid stationary walls. The convective flow terms were discretized using
second order upwind scheme. The coupled implicit time formulation was used with second order
accuracy. The time step used was 0.1 s for comparison with temporal variation of
experimental data. Particle tracking was done using discrete phase model in 2-D geometry. The
particles are initialised with properties such as location, density, diameter, and velocity by used
defined function.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The planar measurements were made in a periodically-driven cavity using PIV over a broad range of
parameters. The measurements in x-y plane were done at the central z plane. The magnitudes of u
and v at different points were extracted from the instantaneous velocity fields. All the results
discussed in this work were obtained after the decay of initial transients and after the system had
achieved a terminal periodic state. The non-dimensional velocities are defined as max/~Uuu=and
max/~Uvv= respectively. Time is non-dimensionalised with the frequency of the plate motion,ωtt=~.

Temporal variation at Re = 348

The magnitudes of u and v (velocities in x and y directions, respectively) at different points were
extracted from the instantaneous velocity fields. In Fig. 1, we depict typical periodic variation of
u~and v~at (0.025m, 0.075m) in the cavity for Re = 348. We see the sinusoidal variation of u~andv~.
Moreover the flow is equally dominant in both the directions at this point. Consequently, the
magnitudes of both the components are significant. The experimental results match well with the
simulation predictions at this point. It should be noted that qualitative agreement in terms of relative
magnitudes and quantitative agreement in terms of cyclicity is obtained when 2-D simulations are
compared with the experimental PIV measurements. Magnitudes of maximum velocity are under-
predicted by the 2-D simulations. However, better agreement was observed with the 3-D simulations.
This is due to flow in the z direction, which is not accounted for in 2-D simulations.
Flow Structures at different Re

In order to visualise the overall flow patterns, the streamline plots from the experimental data for
different plate positions (discussed in Experimental section) at different Re are shown in Fig. 2. In
the figure the arrow indicates the instantaneous position and direction of the plate. We can observe
that at Re = 348, there exists counter rotating secondary vortices, which was not observed at
positions 2 and 4. At Re = 1255, the primary vortex observed at plate positions 2 and 4 evolves into
counter rotating secondary vortices at positions 1 and 3, respectively. At higher Re (=2064), the
corner recirculation region that is dominant at positions 1 and 3, is observed in the vicinity of the side
wall at positions 2 and 4 as well. Therefore, the size as well as persistence of the recirculation region
increases with Reynolds number. When the Reynolds number was further increased to 3691, the
whole cavity flow can be described as a combination of multiple counter rotating vortices. These
experimentally determined flow patterns are in good agreement with the simulation results of Iwatsu
et al.
Quantification of Mixing
Particle separation approach:

Here we track the position of two adjacent particles advected in the flow as a function of time. The
distance can be estimated by modeling the motion of passive tracer particles introduced in the flow.
A Lagrangian approach is used and we determine the locations of the particles as a function of time.
The distance between two specific particles is tracked for various time instants. The rate of change of
distance between the two particles is assumed to be proportional to the instantaneous distance
between them. Under these conditions the separation between two adjacent particles at a distance of
l0 is given by sp = (1/t)ln(lt/lo) where lt is the distance separating them at a time instant t later. This
approach however yields the stretch rate at a particular point or region of the flow field. In order to
average the stretch rate over the whole flow field the value of s p for all adjacent pairs of particles is
determined and their average is calculated.

Particle tracking using FLUENT:

To determine the average stretching rate 2500 particles were injected in the cavity once the initial
transients were decayed and the flow attains periodic steady state. These particles were initially in an
array of uniform spacing i.e., a 50 X 50 grid. The individual particle motion was tracked over a
period of time. Using the instantaneous positions of the particles the distance between the particles
was found and from this the stretch rate was calculated. Fig. 5 shows the dependence of s p(avg) on time
for the flow conditions of Re =1040, St = 2024. The value at every integral multiple of the time
period is shown in the figure. The initial value is close to zero, reaches a maximum value at a time of
three times the period. After this the average stretch rate begins to decrease. We have verified this
trend for other Reynolds numbers and Stokes number as well and so all further calculations of stretch
rate are based on the values determined at the time when the stretch rate is a maximum.

The key numerical parameter for the particle separation approach is the number of particles injected
as this controls the initial separation of the particles, lo. Taking the value of sp(avg) after three periods
of cycle for Re =1040, St = 2024, the effect of the number of particles was studied.
The average stretch rate is independent of the number of particles, provided more than 2000 particles
were used, shown in fig. 6.

The average stretch rate, measure of fluid mixing rate is plotted against Re in Fig 5. The observed
mixing rate was very low at low Re (less than 1100) and it shows a sudden sharp increase as we
increase Re at Re=1000. This is because of the flow transition from the existence of primary vortex
at low Re (less than 1000) to the flow with multiple vortices (refer to fig. 4). When multiple vortices
are present and neighbouring particles are chosen across the vortex boundary the particles separate
out at a much faster rate than when they are in the same vortex. This result in the higher stretch rate
observed as depicted in Fig.5.
CONCLUSIONS

The periodic oscillatory flow in a square cavity has been studied under different experimental
conditions using Particle Image Velocimetry. Based on the variation in plate velocity and fluid
viscosity, flow in a range of Reynolds numbers (5-3700) was analyzed. The temporal variation of the
flow at characteristic points presented dictates the sinusoidal nature of the flow. The frequency
content of the flow was investigated by means of power spectrum analysis. At very low Re the flow
structure is qualitatively similar to the steady lid driven cavity. The presence of secondary
recirculating regions was observed at high Re. The average stretching rate, measure of mixing was
calculated from the CFD simulations, using particle separation method and it was found to increase
with Re.

REFERENCES

Iwatsu, R., Hyun, J.M. and Kuwahara, K., 1992, “Numerical Simulations of flows driven by a
Torsionally Oscillating Lid in a Square Cavity,” Journal of Fluids Engineering, 114, pp. 143-151.
Iwatsu, R., Hyun, J.M. and Kuwahara, K., 1993, “Numerical Simulations of Three Dimensional
Flows in a Cubic Cavity with an Oscillating Lid,” Journal of Fluids Engineering, 115, pp. 680-686.
O’Brien V., 1975, “Unsteady cavity Flows: Oscillatory Flat Box Flows 1” Journal of Applie
Mechanics, Transactions of ASME, pp. 557-563.
Schlichting, H., 1979, Boundary Layer Theory, McGraw-Hill, New York, pp.93-94.
Soh, W. H., and Goodrich, J. W., 1988, “Unsteady Solution of Incompressible Navier-Stoke
Equations,” Journal of Computational Physics, 79, pp.113-134.
Vogel, M. J., Hirsa, A. H., Lopez, J. M., 2003, “Spatial-temporal dynamics of a periodically driven
cavity flow,” Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 478, pp. 197-226.
Roberts, E. P. L., Mackley, M. R., 1995, “The simulation of stretch rates for the quantitative
prediction and mapping of mixing within a channel flow,” Chemical Engineering Science, 50, pp.
3727-3746.

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