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ARTICLE

Analysis of Natural Convection in a Nanofluid-Filled Open Cavity with a Sinusoidal Boundary Condition in the Presence of a Magnetic Field

Imen Mejri^1,2, Ahmed Mahmoudi¹

1 Unité de Recherche Matériaux, Energie et Energies Renouvelables (MEER), Faculté des Sciencesde Gafsa, B.P.19, Zarroug, Gafsa 2112, Tunisie
2 Corresponding Author: Imen Mejri, E-mail: im.mejri85@yahoo.fr

* Corresponding Author: Imen Mejri, E-mail: Email:

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2015, 11(2), 171-195. https://doi.org/10.3970/fdmp.2015.011.171

Abstract

This paper examines natural convection in an open cavity with a sinusoidal thermal boundary condition. The cavity is filled with a water-Al₂O₃ nanofluid and subjected to a magnetic field. The Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is applied to solve the coupled equations of flow and temperature. The study has been carried out considering parameters in the following ranges: Rayleigh number of the base fluid, Ra = 10³ to 10⁶, Hartmann number varied from Ha = 0 to 60, phase deviation γ = 0, π4, π2, 3 π4 and π and solid volume fraction of nanoparticles between π = 0 and 6%. Results show that the heat transfer rate decreases with the Hartmann number and increases with Rayleigh number. At Ha = 30 and Ra = 10³ - 10⁵, for all phase deviations the addition of nanoparticles increases the heat transfer rate. Also, at low Rayleigh number (Ra ≤ 10⁴) the highest heat transfer rate is obtained for γ = π2.

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Keywords

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