CFD analysis for characterization of non-linear power law material in a channel driven cavity with a square cylinder by measuring variation in drag and lift forces

Current communication is manifested to investigate flowing features of power law material in a newly proposed physical configuration namely the channel driven cavity. Since power law fluid discloses the dynamical features of shear thinning, shear thickening and Newtonian materials so in present communication it is considered for depiction of flow attributes. To achieve the desired outcomes from the work, a unit length cavity is placed below the channel. The flow is induced with parabolic inlet velocity and a Neumann condition is applied at the outlet, while no slip condition is set at all other boundaries. A square cylinder is placed in the channel with varying positions giving rise to three computational grids named as G1, G2 and G3. Mathematical modelling is constructed by obliging fundamental conservation and rheological laws for power law fluid. Since the representative equations are complex in nature so an efficient computational procedure based on finite element method (FEM) is executed. A hybrid computational grid is generated at coarse level and then further refinement is done to improve the accuracy of the solution. The solution is approximated by adopting P2−P1 element based on second and first order polynomial shape functions. Graphical trends against involved parametric variables are adorned. In addition for more physical insight of problem velocity and pressure plots and line graphs are added. Furthermore, the hydrodynamical benchmark quantities like pressure drop, drag and lift coefficients are evaluated in tabular form around the outer surface of obstacle.