Adaptive mesh finite-volume calculation of 2D lid-cavity corner vortices

An anisotropic refinement criterion suitable for Finite-Volume methods is presented and Navier–Stokes solutions are reported for the lid-driven cavity flow configuration at Re = 1000 with adaptive anisotropic meshes (h-refinement). The a posteriori error estimation criterion is based on the assessment of the goodness-of-fit of the least squares regression used to perform the variables profile reconstruction and it is capable of detecting both large-scale and small-scale flow phenomena. The criterion allowed to capture in detail the large-scale flow structure and also the sequence of creeping flow small sharp corner’s [1] eddies, up to the fourth corner vortex in addition to the primary cavity vortex. The smallest corner vortex detected is O ( 10 - 16 ) smaller in velocity magnitude compared with the cavity primary recirculation flow.