The recirculating flow patterns in the creeping flow range of an incompressible fluid in rectangular cavities with translating top and bottom walls were obtained numerically and by visualization, then were compared with each other. The aspect ratio was put to be either one or two.
Approximate solutions were obtained for various boundary conditions by using the variational method. The streamlines near the sharp corners were compared with some analytical solutions and the region in which the analytical solutions can safely be applied was confirmed.