Effect of inhomogeneous temperature fields on acoustic streaming structures in resonators.

Acoustic streaming in 2D rectangular resonant channels filled with a fluid with a spatial temperature distribution is studied within this work. An inertial force is assumed for driving the acoustic field; the temperature inhomogeneity is introduced by resonator walls with prescribed temperature distribution. The method of successive approximations is employed to derive linear equations for calculation of primary acoustic and time-averaged secondary fields including the streaming velocity. The model equations have a standard form which allows their numerical integration using a universal solver; in this case, COMSOL Multiphysics was employed. The numerical results show that fluid temperature variations in the direction perpendicular to the resonator axis influence strongly the streaming field if the ratio of the channel width and the viscous boundary layer thickness is big enough; the streaming in the Rayleigh vortices can be supported as well as opposed, which can ultimately lead to the appearance of additional vortices.