Lattice Boltzmann Study of Flow and Temperature Structures of Non-Isothermal Laminar Impinging Streams

Abstract

Previous works on impinging streams mainly focused on the structures of flow field, but paid less attention to the structures of temperature field, which are very important in practical applications. In this paper, the influences of the Reynolds number (Re) and Prandtl number (Pr) on the structures of flow and temperature fields of non-isothermal laminar impinging streams are both studied numerically with the lattice Boltzmann method, and two cases with and without buoyancy effect are considered. Numerical results show that the structures are quite different in these cases. Moreover, in the case with buoyancy effect, some new deflection and periodic structures are found, and their independence on the outlet boundary condition is also verified. These findings may help to understand the flow and temperature structures of non-isothermal impinging streams further.