Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2015) 130: 115
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2015-15115-4

Regular Article

Ferrofluid heat transfer treatment in the presence of variable magnetic field

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Babol University of Technology, Babol, Islamic Republic of Iran
² Shanghai Key Lab of Vehicle Aerodynamics and Vehicle Thermal Management Systems, Tongji University, Address: 4800 Cao An Rd., 201804, Jiading, Shanghai, China
³ ENN-Tongji Clean Energy Institute of Advanced Studies, Shanghai, China

^* e-mail: m.sheikholeslami@mit.ac.ir

Received: 3 January 2015
Revised: 16 April 2015
Accepted: 1 May 2015
Published online: 22 June 2015

Abstract

In this paper, the Control Volume-based Finite Element Method (CVFEM) is applied to simulate Fe₃O₄ -water nanofluid mixed convection heat transfer in a lid-driven semi annulus in the presence of a non-uniform magnetic field. The calculations were performed for different governing parameters, namely, Richardson number, viscosity parameter, nanoparticle volume fraction, magnetic number and Hartmann number. Results show that the Nusselt number has a direct relationship with Richardson number and nanoparticle volume fraction, while it has a reverse relationship with Hartmann number and magnetic number. Also, it can be found that the Nusselt number increases by considering magnetic-field-dependent viscosity.