Effect of an External Oriented Magnetic Field on Entropy Generation in Natural Convection

Abstract

The influence of an external oriented magnetic field on entropy generation in natural convection for air and liquid gallium is numerically studied in steady-unsteady states by solving the mass, the momentum and the energy conservation equations. Entropy generation depends on five parameters which are: the Prandtl number, the irreversibility coefficients, the inclination angle of the magnetic field, the thermal Grashof and the Hartmann numbers. Effects of these parameters on total and local irreversibilities as well as on heat transfer and fluid flow are studied. It was found that the magnetic field tends to decrease the convection currents, the heat transfer and entropy generation inside the enclosure. Influence of inclination angle of the magnetic field on local irreversibility is then studied.

Keywords

• heat transfer
• convection
• magnetic field
• cavity
• entropy generation
• numerical methods