Heat Transfer Enhancement of Cu-water Nanofluid Filled in a Square Cavity with a Circular Disk Under a Magnetic Field

The convective heat transfer enhancement of Cu-water nanofluid in a differentially heated square cavity with a circular disk was investigated. A finite element model consisting of Navier-Stokes, continuity and energy equations has been developed. Thermophysical properties of Cu-water nanofluid were taken from literature data. The model was validated against established solutions for natural convection of air and nanofluid inside a differentially heated square cavity. A magnetic field was applied horizontally to investigate the effect of magneto-hydrodynamicsphenomena on the heat transfer enhancement of the nanofluid. Average Nusselt numbers are calculated for various flow conditions obtained by varying magnetic field strength,solid volume fraction of the nanoparticle, Rayleigh number.