Numerical Simulation and Analysis of Power-law Fluid Flow in a Foursided Lid-driven Cavity

Abstract

The present work deals with the numerical simulation and analysis of nonNewtonian fluids, with power-law index, n = 0.5, 1, and 1.5, in a two-dimensional four-sided square lid-driven cavity. The simulation is performed for incompressible, laminar, steady flow condition using ANSYS Fluent software. The results are validated for the location of the vortex centre for Newtonian fluid (n = 1) at Reynolds number 100; and a very good agreement has been observed with the work available in the literature. Thereupon a comparison is made for the vortex centre obtained at n = 0.5, 1, and 1.5. We observe that there is a distinct biaxis shift for vortex locations for shear-thinning fluid (n = 0.5), whereas a uni-axis shift of vortex location is quantified for shear-thickening fluid (n = 1.5).