Visualization Studies of a Shear Driven Three-Dimensional Recirculating Flow

A facility has been constructed to study shear-driven, recirculating flows. In this particular study, the circulation cell structure in the lid-driven cavity is studied as a function of the speed of the lid which provides the shearing force to a constant and uniform density fluid. The flow is three-dimensional and exhibits regions where Taylor-type instabilities and Taylor-Go¨rtler-like vortices are present. One main circulation cell and three secondary cells are present for the Reynolds number (based on cavity width and lid speed) range considered, viz., 1000–10000. The flows becomes turbulent at Reynolds numbers between 6000 to 8000. The transverse fluid motions (in the direction perpendicular to the lid motion) are significant. In spite of this, some key results from two-dimensional numerical simulations agree well with the results of the present cavity experiments.