Abstract
A numerical study is conducted on the fully-developed laminar flow of an incompressible viscous fluid in a square duct rotating about a perpendicular axis to the axial direction of the duct. At the straight duct, the rotation produces vortices due to the Coriolis force. Generally two vortex cells are formed and the axial velocity distribution is distorted by the effect of this Coriolis force. When a convective force is weak, two counter-rotating vortices are shown with a quasi-parabolic axial velocity profile for weak rotation rates. As the rotation rate increases, the axial velocity on the vertical centreline of the duct begins to flatten and the location of vorticity center is moved near to wall by the effect of the Coriolis force. When the convective inertia force is strong, a double-vortex secondary flow appears in the transverse planes of the duct for weak rotation rates but as the speed of rotation increases the secondary flow is shown to split into an asymmetric configuration of four counter-rotating vortices. If the rotation rates are increased further, the secondary flow restabilizes to a slightly asymmetric double-vortex configuration. Also, a numerical study is conducted on the laminar flow of an incompressible viscous fluid in a