Magnetic fluid flow and heat transfer due to a uniform source and vorticity

Abstract

Abstract The present work investigates the ferrohydrodynamic flow and heat transfer due to a uniform source and irrotational vortex under the influence of a stationary magnetic field. A uniform source generates only a two-dimensional flow. However, in the presence of the vorticity with a uniform source, the flow becomes three-dimensional. The governing equations are expressed as a system of nonlinear coupled differential equations. The transformed differential equations are solved using the finite element approach for both the two-dimensional and three-dimensional flow models. With variations in the strength of the source parameter, Reynolds number, and ferromagnetic interaction numbers, the behavior of two-dimensional and three-dimensional flow is investigated. In three-dimensional flow, the influence of swirling effects on the velocity and temperature profiles are weak as compared to two-dimensional flow. The main role of the three-dimensional vortex flow of ferrofluid is to generate rotational viscosity, and it is not possible in the case of two-dimensional flow case.