Effects of half-sinusoidal nonuniform heating during MHD thermal convection in Cu–Al2O3/water hybrid nanofluid saturated with porous media

Abstract

The intent of this study is to demonstrate an approach for augmenting heat transfer through porous media subjected to nonuniform heating during the magnetohydrodynamic flow of a hybrid nanofluid of Cu–Al2O3/water. The efficacy of such a heating technique is examined utilizing a classical flow geometry consisting of a square cavity. The heating is made at the bottom following a half-sinusoidal function of different frequencies, along with the presence of a uniform magnetic field. The thermal conditions of the cavity, particularly at the bottom wall, drive thermo-hydrodynamics and associated heat transfer. Furthermore, the addition of different types of nanoparticles to the base liquid in order to boost the thermal performance of conventional fluids and mono-nanofluids is a current technique. The coupled nonlinear governing equations are solved numerically in dimensionless forms adapting the finite volume approach, the Brinkman–Forchheimer–Darcy model, local thermal equilibrium and single-phase model. The study is conducted for wide ranges of parametric impacts to analyze global heat transfer performance. The results of this study reveal that the multi-frequency spatial heating during hybrid nanofluid flow can be utilized as a powerful means to improve the thermal performance of a system operating under different ranges of parameters, even with the presence of porous media and magnetic fields. In addition to different heating frequencies, the variations in amplitude (I) and superposed uniform temperature ( $$\theta_{\text{os}}$$ ) to half-sinusoidal heating are also examined thoughtfully in the analysis for different concentrations of Cu–Al2O3 nanoparticles. Compared to the base liquid, the hybrid nanofluid can contribute toward higher heat transfer.