Rayleigh-Bénard MHD convection of Al2O3-water nanofluid in a square enclosure: magnetic field orientation effect

This paper reports a numerical study of Rayleigh-Bénard convection in a square enclosure filled with nanofluid and subjected to a uniform magnetic field. In order to solve the general coupled equations, a computer code based on the finite volume method is used, and it has been validated after comparison between our results and those of the literature. The presence of nanoparticles in the base fluid are simulated using empirical models. It is observed that the fluid flow and heat transfer depend strongly on the orientation of the magnetic field. An increase of the solid volume fraction may enhance or alter the heat transfer performance, depending on the presence or not of an applied magnetic field.