Magneto-hydrodynamic mixed convective heat transfer in a nanofluid filled wavy conduit having rotating cylinders

Abstract

Flow and thermal characteristics of mixed convection in a nanofluid filled wavy conduit was numerically investigated in this study. The conduit was considered to contain a pair of rotating cylinders. It was heated and cooled from its lower and upper wavy surface, respectively. The rotating cylinders were placed along the centerline of the wavy conduit. It was also permeated by an external magnetic field. Finite element method was implemented to simulate the conservation equations. Based on the current investigation, a new model was developed for improving thermal conductivity of nanofluids inside a wavy conduit. In addition, a detailed parametric study was presented to visualize the effects of governing parameters on the flow structure and temperature field in the conduit. The numerical results indicated that the physical parameters noticeably influenced both fluid flow in terms of streamlines, velocity profiles and temperature distributions in terms of isotherms, average Nusselt number. The rotating cylinders, wavy surfaces and the inclined magnetic field were found to have the most significant effect on the heat transfer mechanism. Maximum heat transfer occurred as the magnetic field was placed at an angle of 90o.