U.P.B. Sci. Bull., Series D, Vol. 66, No.

2-4, 2004

FLOW CONFIGURATIONS IN A LID DRIVEN CAVITY

WITH THROUGHFLOW
A. DRAGOMIRESCU
Aceast lucrare investigheaz multiplicitatea configuraiilor curgerii plane
ntr-o cavitate cu perete mobil parcurs de un debit de fluid, n funcie de
parametrii acestei curgeri. In domeniul de parametri explorat, diagramele de
bifurcaie ce corespund configuraiilor curgerii posed o structur interesant,
numrul i modul de conectare a ramurilor acestor diagrame prezentnd modificri
substaniale odat cu parametrii considerai. Permind o mai bun nelegere a
curgerii, aceste diagrame pot furniza indicii importante privind modul de proiectare
i de operare a dispozitivelor tehnice bazate pe o cavitate cu perete mobil parcurs
de un debit de fluid.
In this work the multiplicity of the flow configurations in a lid driven cavity
with throughflow with respect to the flow parameters is investigated. In the
parameter range explored, the bifurcation diagrams corresponding to flow
configurations exhibit an interesting structure, the number and connectivity of the
branches showing substantial changes with the flow parameters. With the insight
they offer into the flow, these diagrams may give important hints on how to design
and operate a technical device that relies essentially on a lid driven cavity with
throughflow.

Keywords: lid driven cavity, bifurcation

Introduction
This paper investigates the multiplicity and connectivity structure of the
two dimensional flow configurations, i.e. the bifurcation, in a symmetrical lid
driven cavity with throughflow. The domain to be considered is illustrated in Fig.
1.a. The fluid enters the two-dimensional cavity through the inflow channel at the
bottom. The upper horizontal wall of the cavity consists in a moving lid that forms
with the rigid walls of the cavity two horizontal channels through which fluid may
leave the cavity to the left and to the right (outflow region). A sketch of the
channel with a sudden expansion (Fig. 1.b) shows that if the cavity in Fig. 1.a is
long enough, one would expect a decoupling of the flow in the entrance
(expansion) region of the cavity from the lid driven outflow. This should bring the

Assist., Dept. of Hydraulics and Hydraulic Machinery, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest,

ROMANIA.

148

A. Dragomirescu

a)

b)

Fig.1. The lid driven cavity with throughflow (a)

put into context with the channel with a sudden expansion (b).

inflow configurations close to those of the sudden expansion channel flow. For
short cavities, on the contrary, one would expect two effects of the top wall: a) a
stagnation reaction in the flow in the expansion region, possibly having stabilising
consequences on the recirculation flows, and b) a driving effect of the moving top
wall, which will certainly distort the flow configurations and change them
qualitatively.
The flow in the extreme configuration of the lid driven cavity with
throughflow, namely in the sudden expansion channel, is certainly a prototype
flow, which is fascinating because it shows, from the continuing experimental and
numerical effort spent on its investigations, an impressive richness of flow
configurations [1]-[3] in spite of its geometric simplicity. In more recent
investigations of a channel with a sudden expansion followed by a sudden
contraction, the complex interplay of the stagnating flow in the contraction region
with the expansion flow has been studied (Mizushima et al. [4]), shedding an
additional light on the complexity of the flow structure to be expected in the
present problem.
In Section 1 the problem is formulated in terms of geometric
configurations, fluid properties, flow parameters, and boundary conditions,
summarised in characteristic numbers (aspect ratios and Reynolds numbers). The
instrument and the method of analysis are described in Section 2. The instrument
is based on the software package FIDAP [5]. The results of the present
investigation are presented in Section 3 in terms of bifurcation diagrams and
streamline contour plots.
1. Problem formulation
The geometry of the flow domain, which is considered horizontal, is
shown in Fig. 2. It is characterised by the width di of the inflow channel, the width

Flow configurations in a lid driven cavity with throughflow

Lof

Uw

dof

dob

Lob

149

Li

x
di

Qi

Fig. 2. Geometry, parameters, and coordinate system of the flow domain.

D and the height H of the cavity, and the widths dof and dob of the outflow
channels. With a symmetrical entrance expansion and two equal outflow channels,
the flow geometry is symmetrical with respect to the middle axis. The fluid,
considered to be Newtonian and incompressible, is characterised by its density
and its dynamic viscosity . The characteristics of the flow regime are the flow
rate Qi at the inlet and the velocity Uw of the wall on top of the cavity. The steady
state two-dimensional incompressible flow of the Newtonian fluid is governed by
the Navier-Stokes equations (momentum equations)
2u x 2u x
u
u
p
,
u x x + u y x = +
(1)
+
2
x 2
x
y
x

2
2u

u y
u y
p
y uy
= +
,
(2)
u x
+uy
+

x 2
2

and the mass conservation equation

u x u y
+
= 0.
(3)
x
y
The boundary conditions for the flow are the usual ones of no slip on the
fixed and moving walls. Also, the inflow and outflow conditions have to be
specified. The velocity profile at the inlet is taken as parabolic with a mean
velocity U i equal to two-thirds of the maximal velocity Ui,max. This mean velocity
gives the inflow rate per unit channel width: Qi = d i U i (or Qi = 2d i U i,max / 3 ).
Both outlets are considered free of normal stress, which is the so-called natural

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A. Dragomirescu

boundary condition that arises from the application of the finite element method
to the flow equations [5]. This condition guarantees that at the outflow boundaries
the internal flow in the cavity accommodates to a reference pressure, p = 0 in our
case, in as much as the flow in the two channels reaches a state of full
development. Hence the lengths Lof and Lob and the heights dof and dob of the
forward and backward outflow channels determine how the inflow rate Qi
distributes between these two channels (such as Qof + Qob = Qi). The choices dof =
dob (= di) and Lof = Lob (= Lo) in this paper expresses the close relationship for the
channel flow with a symmetrical sudden expansion.
To give to this problem a higher degree of generality, the flow equations
were solved in their dimensionless form. As reference length the width di of the
inflow channel was chosen, while the reference velocity was adopted as the
maximum velocity at the inlet, Ui,max. With this, three length ratios and two
Reynolds numbers can be introduced as dimensionless parameters for
characterising the flow. The length ratios are the expansion ratio li = D/di, the
aspect ratio la = H/D, and the width ratio for the outflow against the inflow
lo = d o / d i The Reynolds numbers are Rei = U i,max d i / = 3 Qi / 2 , which
specifies the inflow, and Re w = d o U w / , which characterises the motion of
the upper wall. Two additional length ratios are introduced by the length Li of the
inflow channel and the (common) length Lo of the two outflow channels: ci = Li/di
and co = Lo/do. After nondimensionalisation, the geometric parameters of the
chamber become:

d i* = 1 ,

L*of = L*ob = L*o = lo co

D* = li ,

H * = li la ,

*
*
d of
= d ob
= d o* = lo , and

(the star denotes a dimensionless variable). The

dimensionless maximum velocity at the inlet is now U i*, max = 1 . Taking

U i, max / d i as reference pressure, the equations governing the flow may be
written in the form:
u *
u *
p * 2u *x 2 u *x ,
Re i u *x *x + u *y *x = * +
+
2
x

*2

x
x
y *

2 *
2 *
u *y
u *y
p* u y u y ,
Re i u *x * + u *y * = * +
+
2
2
x
y
y
x *
y *

u *x

u *y

(4)

(5)

(6)
+
= 0.
x * y *
In the above dimensionless equations the fluid density is now replaced
by the Reynolds number Rei, while the dynamic viscosity by 1.

Flow configurations in a lid driven cavity with throughflow

151

As already specified, the computations were made in terms of the

dimensionless parameters. However, because of the relatively large number of
them, some of the parameters were kept constant. Thus, the computations were
performed for various Reynolds numbers, while li, la, and lo were kept fixed. This
approach seems to be appropriate for the first step of investigation that
concentrates on a neighbourhood of the sudden expansion flow.

2. Methods and instruments of analysis

The computations of the flow fields were performed with the CFD
software FIDAP and its finite element method in the Galerkin formulation. The
continuum flow region was divided into 6360 quadrilateral elements forming a
mesh with 6156 grid points. Several branches of the solutions of this system were
identified by a zero-order, one parameter continuation scheme. One of the
continuation parameters was the Reynolds number Rei. Each new solution of the
non-linear equation system corresponding to a new Rei was sought by starting a
Newton algorithm with a previous solution as initial guess. Furthermore, the
influence of the mesh on the bifurcation diagrams was investigated using a second
and refined computational mesh consisting of 24260 elements.
Studies of the sudden expansion flow revealed that below a certain value
of Rei the flow equations possess a unique solution [3]. Therefore it is convenient
to start computations initially from low values of Rei. The detailed path of
continuation sequences needed to uncover a picture of the flow multiplicity,
especially for the detection of disconnected solution branches, rests on some
intuition.
To obtain a compact graphical characterisation of the individual solutions,
a suitable functional was chosen. This is the first moment of the axial velocity
taken at a given height y = yf in the chamber. It has the expression

D* / 2
f ( y*f , ...) =
x* u*y ( x* , y*f ) dx* .
D* / 2

(7)

The ellipsis stays here for other possible parameters, like Reynolds
numbers and/or aspect ratios.
Due to the definition of this functional, its value will be zero for flows
which are symmetrical with respect to the symmetry axis of the domain (in this
case the function under the integral is antisymmetrical while the integration
domain is symmetrical). Positive values of the functional will correspond to
situations in which the flow attaches to the right wall, while for situations in
which the flow attaches to the left wall f will take negative values.

152

A. Dragomirescu

3. Results
Computations were performed for a fixed expansion of ratio li = 6, a fixed
aspect ratio la = 2, and a fixed value lo = 1. The inflow and outflow ratios were
chosen as ci = 1 and co = 5 respectively. With these, the dimensionless velocity of
*
= Re w / Rei , since do/di = lo = 1. For convenience,
the upper wall becomes U w
this velocity will be used instead of Rew in the following, so the subscript i in the
notation Rei can be dropped (i.e. Re). A remark should be added here: the
definition of the dimensionless upper wall velocity implies that a constant value of
*
Uw
means that the real velocity of the upper wall changes proportional to the
inflow velocity.
The computations, which were performed for different Reynolds numbers
and different velocities of the upper wall, moved in the two-dimensional
*
parameter space (Re, U w
). The path in this parameter space focused on the
influence of the top wall velocity on the flow picture. Results will be presented for
*
increasing values of this velocity: U w
= 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, 7.0, 7.3, 7.4,
and 8.0. For each velocity and Reynolds number, the functional f was evaluated at

y *f = 2.269 .
*
3.1. Top wall at rest U w
=0
For this situation, the computations revealed at relatively low Reynolds
numbers a symmetrical bifurcation picture (Fig. 3), similar to the flow in a
channel with a sudden expansion having the same ratio for D/di. Fig. 3 shows the
presence of a bifurcation point at Recr 37, which agrees well with the results
obtained by Alleborn et al. [3].
0.2
II+

0.15
0.1

f(Re)

0.05
I

I'

-0.05
-0.1
-0.15
II-0.2
0

50

100

150
Re

200

250

* = 0.
Fig. 3. Bifurcation diagram for U w

300

Flow configurations in a lid driven cavity with throughflow

153

The bifurcation picture displays a unique, symmetrical, and stable

stationary flow configuration I for Re < Recr and three configurations above Recr:
I, II+ and II-. Fig. 4 shows the streamlines for configurations I and II- at Re =
50. Flow I is symmetrical with respect to the symmetry axis and has two
recirculation vortices. Flow II- is asymmetrically attached to the left wall and
shows also two recirculation vortices, although not equally sized. Flow II+, which
is not shown, is the reflection of II- with respect to the symmetry axis. The theory
presented in [6] and the studies on the flow in a sudden expansion allow us only to
presume, in the absence of further numerical investigations, that the flow
corresponding to branch I is unstable while the flows corresponding to branches
II+ and II- are stable.
The number and structure of the recirculation vortices change when the
Reynolds number increases. For Re = 300 (Fig. 5) the symmetrical flow I shows
at least three vortices on each side of the main stream, the larger ones being

a)

b)

Fig. 4. Streamlines for U *w = 0 at Re = 50: a) the symmetrical flow I

and b) the asymmetrical flow II-.

a)
b)
*
Fig. 5. Streamlines for U w = 0 at Re = 300: a) the symmetrical flow I
and b) the asymmetrical flow II-.

154

A. Dragomirescu

situated in the lower half of the cavity. In the asymmetrical flow II- only four
vortices appear: one remained at the left wall (the other two being destroyed by
the asymmetry of the flow), and another three interposed between the main stream
and the right wall.
Comparing Fig. 4 and 5 one could also see that the increase of the
Reynolds number narrows the main flow and enlarges the recirculation zones.
Thus the dissipation grows and the quantity of fluid possibly subjected to ageing
increases.
*
3.2. Moving wall U w
0

The motion of the upper wall breaks the reflection symmetry of the flow.
Because of this motion, the bifurcation diagram changes qualitatively, from a
perfect bifurcation in the symmetry case to an imperfect bifurcation. Also, as a
consequence of the wall motion, an additional change is to be expected. The two
asymmetrical flows will be influenced differently by the wall motion. While the
flow attached to the right wall of the chamber (II+) is expected to be
stabilised, the one attached to the left wall (II-) will probably be
destabilised and, for a sufficiently high velocity of the top wall, one would
expect that this last flow will be swept away from the back wall of the cavity.
Expressed in terms of the bifurcation diagram, it is to be expected that for
*
Uw
> 0 the symmetrical branch I will be continuated smoothly by the upper
branch II+ around Re = Recr. The lower branch, II-, on the other hand, will
*
probably end at a certain Reynolds number and, the higher the velocity U w
is, the
sooner this end is supposed to appear.
*
between 0.1
Fig. 6.a and 6.b present the bifurcation diagrams for U w

a)

b)

Fig. 6. Bifurcation diagrams for a) U *w = 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, and b) U *w = 1.0, 2.0, 4.0.

Flow configurations in a lid driven cavity with throughflow

155

a)
b)
c)
* = 1.0 at Re = 50: a) corresponding to branch II ,
Fig. 7. Streamlines for U w
+
b) corresponding to branch I, and c) corresponding to branch II-.

and 4.0. These diagrams confirm the assumptions made before. Around Recr 37
branch I turns smoothly into branch II+, which does not change significantly
*
= 0. The other two branches, I originating from the
compared to case U w
*
symmetrical branch I of the case U w
= 0 and II- become isolated, being linked
by two turning points T1 and T2 located at Recr,1 and Recr,2.
The diagrams in Fig 6.a and 6.b indicate that starting from a Reynolds
number close to 0 and increasing it in small steps, flow configurations
corresponding to branches I and II+ will be obtained. This means that the main
flow will attach to the right wall (e.g. Fig. 7.a) and will remain attached to this
wall. Flow configurations corresponding to branches I (Fig. 7.b) and II- (Fig. 7.c)
could be obtained if, for example, significant changes of the Reynolds number
from values Re < Recr to values Re > Recr are made.
*
With increasing U w
, the location of the first turning point, T1, remains
almost unchanged, while the second turning point, T2, moves towards smaller
Reynolds numbers and makes the isolas formed by branches I and II- to become
smaller and smaller. This behaviour could lead to the assumption that for high
enough velocities of the upper wall the fluid will attach only to the right wall
and the isolas in the bifurcation diagram will disappear completely.
According to our computations, the previous assumption seems not to be
correct. As Fig. 8 shows, an interesting change in the bifurcation picture occurs at
*
*
higher velocities U w
. At a critical velocity U w
,cr , the value of which was found to be

between 7.3 and 7.4, a new bifurcation point seems to exist, connecting the upper
*
*
branch, II+, with the lower ones, I and II-. For U w
>Uw
,cr this bifurcation point

disappears again and the connectivity of the branches changes to a hysteresis-like

configuration. Branch I is now continued by branch II- that evolves further up to a

156

A. Dragomirescu

-0.01

-0.02

-0.03

-0.04

-0.05
30

35

40

45

* = 7.0, 7.3, 7.4, and 8.0.

Fig. 8. Bifurcation diagram for U w

critical Reynolds number Recr,2, for which the turning point T2 appears. At this point, a
further increase in the Reynolds number will make the flow to change suddenly its
configurations to the ones corresponding to branch II+. On the other side, if at point T2
the Reynolds number is decreased, the flow will evolve according to branch I down to
a new turning point T1' located at a Reynolds number Re'cr ,1 . At this point, a new
increase of the Reynolds number will have as result flow configurations corresponding
to branch II+.
Investigations of the computational mesh influence on the aspect of the
*
bifurcation diagrams were carried out for upper wall velocities U w
= 0.1, 7.3,
and 7.4. The flow domain was discretised with a finer mesh having 24260
elements. Comparisons between the bifurcation diagrams obtained with this new
mesh and those obtained with the initial mesh are presented in Fig. 9. The plots
show that the mesh refinement had practically no qualitative and quantitative
influence on the bifurcation diagrams in the region of Recr. Only at higher
Reynolds numbers the refined mesh produced some small changes of the
bifurcation diagrams (the turning points T2 moved slightly to the left, which
correspond to a small decrease of Recr,2). This fact leads to the conclusion that the
choice of the initial computational mesh was adequate to numerically simulate the
flow in the lid driven cavity in the neighbourhood of the (first) critical Reynolds
number.

Conclusions
The object of this investigation was a simple flow configuration, a lid
driven cavity with throughflow that establishes a link between a well understood

Flow configurations in a lid driven cavity with throughflow

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.1

0.05

0.05
f(Re)

f(Re)

0.2

6360 elements
24260 elements

0.15

157

0
-0.05

6360 elements
24260 elements

0
-0.05

-0.1

-0.1

-0.15

-0.15

-0.2

-0.2

100

200

300

400

500

600

20

40

60

Re

80

100

120

140

Re

a)

b)
0.2
0.15

6360 elements
24260 elements

0.1

f(Re)

0.05
0
-0.05
-0.1
-0.15
-0.2
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Re

c)
Fig. 9. Comparisons between bifurcation diagrams obtained with the initial computational mesh
* = 0.1, b) * =7.3, c) * = 7.4.
and with the refined one: a) U w
Uw
Uw

category of channel flows and a second flow category, which comes close to
certain technical devices in process engineering. The purpose of the investigation
was to gain an insight into the number and nature of two-dimensional flow
configurations allowed by those flow parameters which in process engineering
should be accessible and also sufficient to control the flow completely. The
instruments of the investigation were essentially commercial numerical tools for
flow computation.
The results obtained show that there is a pronounced qualitative change in
the multiplicity of the flow configurations in a lid driven cavity with throughflow
as one departs from the relatively simple configurations of a channel with a
sudden expansion towards more complex geometric shapes like that of a lid driven
cavity. The parameter ranges considered reveal the existence of a rich variety of
*
, flow
flow configurations. At low values of the upper wall velocity U w
configurations separated from the main branch were found. They form isolas

158

A. Dragomirescu

*
whose size decreases when U w
increases. But instead of disappearing, as one
would expect, these isolas turn into a hysteresis configuration once the upper wall
velocities become greater than a critical value found to be between 7.3 and 7.4.
Further investigations, either numerical or experimental, are needed to find what
branches on the bifurcation diagrams are stable and what branches are instable.
To study the influence of the computational grid on the bifurcation
diagrams, some investigations were repeated using a refined mesh. They
confirmed the correctness of the initial results obtained at relatively low Reynolds
numbers, where the aspect of the bifurcation diagrams remained practically
unchanged. Only at high Reynolds numbers more reliable results may demand
finer grids.

REFERENCES
1. W. Cherdron, F. Durst, J. H. Whitelaw, Asymmetric flows and instabilities in symmetric ducts
with sudden expansions. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 84, 1978, 1331.
2. R. M. Fearn, T. Mullin, K. A. Cliffe, Nonlinear flow phenomena in a symmetric sudden
expansion. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 211, 1990, 595608.
3. N. Alleborn, K. Nandakumar, H. Raszillier, F. Durst, Further contributions on the twodimensional flow in a sudden expansion. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 330, 1997, 169188.
4. J. Mizushima, Y. Shiotani, Transitions and instabilities of flow in a symmetric channel with a
suddenly expanded and contracted part. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 434, 2001, 355369.
5. FIDAP (Fluid Dynamics Analysis Package), Version 7.52. FDI, Evanston, 1996.
6. G. Ioos, D. D. Joseph, Elementary stability and bifurcation theory. Springer, New York, 1990.