Effects of uniform or non-uniform heating at bottom wall on MHD mixed convection in a porous cavity saturated by nanofluid

Abstract

Abstract A numerical investigation on the effects of uniform and non-uniform heating of bottom wall on mixed convective heat transfer in a square porous chamber filled with nanofluid in the appearance of magnetic field is carried out. Uniform or sinusoidal heat source is fixed at the bottom wall. The top wall moves in either positive or negative direction with a constant cold temperature. The vertical sidewalls are thermally insulated. The finite volume approach based on SIMPLE algorithm is followed for solving the governing equations. The different parameters connected with this study are Richardson number (0.01 ≤ Ri ≤ 100), Darcy number (10−4 ≤ Da ≤ 10−1), Hartmann number (0 ≤ Ha ≤ 70), and the solid volume fraction (0.00 ≤ χ ≤ 0.06). The results are presented graphically in the form of isotherms, streamlines, mid-plane velocities, and Nusselt numbers for the various combinations of the considered parameters. It is observed that the overall heat transfer rate is low at Ri = 100 in the positive direction of lid movement, whereas it is low at Ri = 1 in the negative direction. The average Nusselt number is lowered on growing Hartmann number for all considered moving directions of top wall with non-uniform heating. The low permeability, Da = 10−4 keeps the flow pattern same dominating the magnetic field, whereas magnetic field strongly affects the flow pattern dominating the high Darcy number Da = 10−1. The heat transfer rate increases on enhancing the solid volume fraction regardless of the magnetic field.