Heat transfer study and optimization of nanofluid triangular cavity with a pentagonal barrier by finite element approach and RSM

Abstract

Nowadays, several engineering applications and academic investigations have demonstrated the significance of heat transfers in general and mixed convection heat transfer (MCHT) in particular in cavities containing obstacles. This study's main goal is to analyze the MCHT of a nanofluid in a triangular cavity with a pentagonal barrier using magneto hydrodynamics (MHD). The cavity's-oriented walls are continuous cold temperature, whereas the bottom wall of the triangle and all pentagonal obstacle walls are kept at a constant high temperature. For solving governing equations, we utilized the Galerkin's finite element approach. Four dimensionless factors, Richardson number (0.01 ≤ Ri ≤ 5), Reynolds number (10 ≤ Re ≤ 50), Buoyancy ratio (0.01 ≤ Br ≤ 10) and Hartmann number (0 ≤ Ha ≤20) are examined for their effects on streamlines, isotherms, concentration, velocity, and the Nusselt number. Also, with the help of Taguchi method and Response Surface Method (RSM) the optimization of the studied dimensionless parameters has been done. The optimum values of Ri, Re, Ha and Br are obtained 4.95, 30.49,18.35 and 0.05 respectively. Ultimately, a correlation has been extracted for obtaining the optimum average Nusselt number (Nu) in mentioned cavity.