SINOPSIS

A numerical study is made on the fully developed bifurcation structure and stability of the forced convection in a curved rectangular duct with the aspect ratio 10 and curvature ratio 0.5. Ten solution branches are found: six symmetric and four asymmetric. The flows on these branches are in a symmetric 2, 4, 6, 8, 10-cell state, and an asymmetric 4, 6, 7, 9, 10-cell state. Dynamic responses of multiple flows to finite random disturbances are examined by the direct transient computation. It is found that physically realizable fully-developed flows evolve, as the Dean number increases, from a stable steady state to a temporal periodic oscillation, a temporal intermittent oscillation, another periodic oscillation and a chaotic oscillation.