Effect of L-shaped heat source and magnetic field on heat transfer and irreversibilities in nanofluid-filled oblique complex enclosure

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, the natural convection heat transfer of water/alumina nanofluid is investigated in a closed square cavity. An oblique magnetic field is applied on the cavity of angle $$\gamma$$ γ . There is also radiation heat transfer in the cavity. The cavity includes a high-temperature source of L-shape. A low-temperature source as a quadrant of a circle is placed at the corner of the cavity. All other walls are well insulated. The novelty of this work is a low-temperature obstacle embedded in the cavity. Simulations are conducted with a Fortran code based on the control volume method and simple algorithm. Entropy generation rate, Bejan number, and heat transfer are studied by changing different parameters. Results indicate that the highest rates of heat transfer and entropy generation have occurred for the perpendicular magnetic field at high values of the Rayleigh number. At these Rayleigh numbers, the minimum value of the Bejan number is obtained for 15° magnetic field. The magnetic field variation can lead to a change up to 53% in Nusselt number and up to 34% in generated entropy. In a weak magnetic field, the involvement of the radiation heat transfer mechanism leads to an increase in the heat transfer rate so that the Nusselt number can be increased by ten units considering the radiation heat transfer when there is no magnetic field. The maximum heat transfer rate occurs in the horizontal cavity and the minimum value in the cavity of 60° angle. For water, these values are 10.75 and 9.98 for 0 and 60 angles, respectively. Moreover, a weak magnetic field increases the heat transfer rate in the absence of the radiation mechanism, while it is reduced by considering a strong magnetic field.