MHD Effects on Mixed Convection Flow Through a Diverging Channel with Circular Obstacle

Abstract

MHD mixed convection steady laminar heat and mass transfer flow through an open diverging channel with a circular obstacle is studied numerically in the present work. A circular obstacle is placed at the centre of the channel and the right wall of the channel is heated with temperature Th The top and bottom walls are adiabatic. Using a set of appropriate transformations, the governing equations along with the initial and boundary conditions are transformed into non-dimensional form, which are then solved by employing Galerkin weighted residuals finite element scheme. MHD mixed convection fluid flow and heat transfer within the channel is governed by the inertia force, magnetic intensity and viscosity variation parameter namely Reynolds number (Re), Hartman number (Ha) and Prandtl number (Pr). The computation is carried out for a wide range of Hartmann number Ha, Prandtl number Pr and Reynolds number Re. The obtained results are presented in the form of streamlines, isotherms, average Nusselt number and average temperature of the fluid for various relevant dimensionless groups.