Magnetohydrodynamic Mixed Convection Flow in a Hexagonal Enclosure

Abstract

A numerical study is carried out to analyze magnetohydrodynamic mixed convection flow and heat transfer in a hexagonal cavity. The horizontal walls of the enclosure are kept at constant temperature Th while the inclined walls are uniformly heated of temperature Tc, maintained a consistent circumstance of Th > Tc. Finite element method based on Galerkin Weighted Residual technique has been employed to solve the governing equations describing the flow model. The resulting numerical solutions of the problem are demonstrated graphically in terms of streamlines, isotherms, average Nusselt number and average temperature for a range of Richardson number (0.1 ≤ Ri ≤ 10) and Hartmann number (0 ≤ Ha ≤ 60). It is found that Hartmann number and Richardson number have considerable effect on the flow structure and temperature field. In addition, the variation of average Nusselt number at the heated wall and average temperature within the fluid domain is more significant for the ranges of considered parameters.