Effectiveness of magnetize flow on nanofluid via unsteady natural convection inside an inclined U-shaped cavity with discrete heating

Abstract

This analysis investigates the unsteady MHD free convection flow and heat transfer in an inclined U-shaped cavity filled with Cu-water nanofluid. Both the right and left walls of the cavity and the internal walls of the cavity are supposed to be adiabatic, while the upper horizontal walls of the cavity are kept at a lower temperature. A heat source is located on the bottom horizontal wall with its position that alters the left vertical wall. The dimensionless governing equations are solved using the Successive Under-Relaxation technique. The investigation is achieved by controlling the impact of a set of pertinent parameters, namely; the size and position of the heat element (B = 0.3–0.6, D = 0.3–0.6), Hartman number (Ha = 0–50), nanoparticle volume fraction (ϕ = 0.0–0.07), heat source generation/ absorption (Q = −4.0–2.0), and aspect ratio (AR = 0.2–0.6). The results show that the mean Nu declines with heat source length and Hartmann number, whereas it augments with dimensionless heat source location. Furthermore, the mean Nu rises in parallel with the solid volume fraction of nanoparticles and decreases with aspect ratio. In addition, the increasing of aspect ratio reduces the convection mode compared to conduction heat transfer.

Keywords

• Heat generation
• Magneto-hydrodynamics
• Natural convection
• Nanofluid volume fraction
• Thermal performance criteria