Near-wall turbulence characteristics in high-Reynolds-number lid-driven cavity flows

This study investigates turbulent flow in a cubic lid-driven cavity at high Reynolds numbers (Re = 9.675 × 104, 2.257 × 105, and 3.225 × 105) through time-averaged and statistical analyses. Time-averaged streamlines reveal a dominant counterclockwise primary vortex whose lateral position shifts with increasing Re, gradually stabilizing near the cavity centre under strong turbulent mixing. Velocity magnitude distributions indicate that as Re increases, momentum diffusion intensifies, boundary layers thin, and near-wall velocities become more uniform, with peak velocities decreasing from approximately 0.14 at Re = 9.675 × 104 to 0.10 at Re = 3.225 × 105. Root-mean-square (RMS) velocity analysis shows that high u-RMS regions migrate from the left-bottom walls to right-top near-wall areas, reflecting vortex evolution, energy cascade, and intensified dissipation. Turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) distributions indicate that high-TKE zones concentrate near walls and contract with increasing Re, with peak TKE decreasing from 0.00105 to 0.00025, demonstrating a shift from turbulence generation-dominated to dissipation-dominated dynamics. Turbulent dissipation rate (ε) analysis further confirms this trend: high-dissipation zones shrink from continuous bands along the walls to discrete patches, and near-wall asymmetry diminishes, with ε peaks decreasing from 0.042 to 0.012. Overall, the results reveal the progressive evolution of turbulence with Reynolds number: initial wall-constrained shear dominates, followed by vortex breakup and energy cascade, culminating in a more uniform high-Re turbulence. These findings provide a quantitative characterization of turbulence evolution in lid-driven cavity flows and establish a benchmark dataset for validating computational models and turbulence closures under high-Re conditions.