Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2018) 133: 66
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2018-11893-3

Regular Article

Numerical study for forced MHD convection heat transfer of a nanofluid in a square cavity with a cylinder of constant heat flux

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mazandaran University of Science and Technology, Babol, Iran
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran

^* e-mail: m.sheikholeslami1367@gmail.com

Received: 19 January 2017
Accepted: 18 January 2018
Published online: 21 February 2018

Abstract

In this research, flow and forced convection heat transfer of a water-copper nanofluid in the presence of magnetic field is studied. The walls of the square ventilation cavity are insulated. The dominating equations are solved by implementing the finite-volume method (FVM) using the Semi-Implicit Method for Pressure-Linked Equations (SIMPLE) algorithm. The effects of Hartmann number, nanoparticles volume fraction and Reynolds number on the flow and heat transfer characteristics were examined. The results demonstrate that increasing Reynolds and Hartmann numbers lead to increase the average Nusselt number. By evaluating the geometrical parameters, it was found that the size and number of vortices in the flow field decrease by increasing the inlet width. Besides, the increase of the average Nusselt number occurs with the increase of the inlet width. Moreover, it has been observed that the effect of the Hartmann number is more pronounced for higher Reynolds numbers.