Turbulent natural convection heat transfer in a square cavity with nanofluids in presence of inclined magnetic field

Abstract

In this paper, we present a numerical study of turbulent natural convection in a square cavity differentially heated and filled with nanofluid and subjected to an inclined magnetic field. The standard k-? model was used as the turbulence model. The transport equations were discretized by the finite volume method using the SIMPLE algorithm. The influence of the Rayleigh number, the Hartmann number, the orientation angle of the applied magnetic field, the type of nanoparticles as well as the volume fraction of nanoparticles, on the hydrodynamic and thermal characteristics of the nanofluid was illustrated and discussed in terms of streamlines, isotherms and mean Nusselt number. The results obtained show that the heat transfer rate increases with increasing Rayleigh number and orientation angle of the magnetic field but it decreases with increasing Hartmann number. In addition, heat transfer improves with increasing volume fraction and with the use of Al2O3 nanoparticles.