Multiple hysteresis effects and their destabilization mechanism in the enclosed mixed convection enclosure with three representative aspect ratios

Abstract

Mixed convection in the lid-driven cavity model widely represented real engineering applications, especially electronic cooling and wind across buildings. In past decades, avalanche experiments and numerical calculations have been done on the lid-driven cavity model. Unfortunately, one unusual flow behavior in the cavity mixed convections—multiple steady solutions, i.e., identical boundary conditions and governing parameters whereas different initial conditions or loading perturbations may lead to two or more flow states, and it was hardly investigated. Multiple steady enclosure flow behaviors essentially complicate the convective transport of heat and air, which has been vividly analyzed by streamlines, heatlines and isotherms. In the present work, the flow mechanisms and evolution driven by mixed convections in lid-driven cavities for multiple aspect ratios will be investigated through the numerical methodology of computational fluid dynamics. The effects of dimensionless parameter (Grashof number, Reynolds number, and Richardson number) on multiple flow motions have been disclosed, regarding of hysteresis effect and their destabilization mechanism. Investigations on these complicated flow motions essentially facilitate the optimization of engineering flows similar to lid driven enclosures, whatever mechanical cooling of electronics, or wind across street canyons.