Investigation of Heat and Mass Transfer in a Lid-Driven Cavity Under Nonequilibrium Flow Conditions

Abstract

Gaseous flow and heat transfer in a lid-driven cavity under nonequilibrium flow conditions is investigated using the direct simulation Monte Carlo method, from the slip to the free-molecular regime. The emphasis is on understanding thermal flow features. The impact of the lid velocity and various degrees of rarefaction on the shear stress and heat flux rates are analyzed. The role of expansion cooling and viscous dissipation on the heat transfer mechanism is investigated. Complex heat flow phenomena, such as counter-gradient heat transfer, are revealed by the simulations which the conventional Navier-Stokes-Fourier equations are not able to capture, even in the slip-flow regime.

The authors would like to thank the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for their support of Collaborative Computational Project 12 (CCP12).