Turbulent Flow and Jet-Interaction in a Smooth Lid-Driven-Cavity

Experiments were carried out to study the flow and mixing behavior in a smooth lid-driven cavity. In contrast to a simple lid-driven cavity configuration, narrow gaps with finite thickness at inlet and outlet and an additional jet into the cavity were considered, too. It was found that a thin shear layer close to the moving wall occurred whereas the larger part of the flow domain was characterized by large fluctuating eddies. Due to the smooth cavity shape, a pressure gradient in flow direction resulted. The combined effects of that pressure gradient and the moving wall were investigated by measurements of the velocity and fluctuation profiles using Laser-Doppler-Anemometry (LDA). Special attention was spent to the interaction of the inflowing jet with the main flow within the cavity, and different regimes of jet-cavity-interaction were visualized. In addition to the experiments, an extensive Large-Eddy-Simulation (LES) study was conducted, and a reasonable agreement between the experimental data and the LES results were found.