Numerical Simulation of Non-Newtonian Power-Law Fluid Flow in a Lid-Driven Skewed Cavity

Abstract

Non-Newtonian laminar fluid flow in a lid-driven skewed cavity has been studied numerically using power-law viscosity model. The governing two-dimensional unsteady incompressible Navier–Stokes equations were initially non-dimensionalized using appropriate transformation, and then the dimensionless form is transformed to generalized curvilinear coordinates to simulate complex geometry. The transformed equations are discretized using finite volume method with the collocated grid arrangement. The code is first validated against the existing benchmark results for two-dimensional lid-driven square cavity problem considering both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids. The validation has also been carried out for a lid-driven skewed cavity in the case of a Newtonian fluid. Then the code is applied to the skewed cavity problem involving non-Newtonian fluid flow which can be described by the power-law viscosity model. Moreover, grid independence test has been performed for a skewed cavity for different values of power-law index. In the present case, the skewness of the geometry has been changed by changing the skew angle for both shear-thinning and shear-thickening fluids. The consequent numerical results are presented in terms of the velocity as well as streamlines for the different values of the power-law index $$n=0.5$$ , 1 and 1.5, Reynolds number $$Re = 100, 200, 300$$ and 500 as well as for the different angles of the skewed cavity ( $$\alpha =15^{\circ }$$ to $$165^{\circ }$$ ).