Effects of fins on magnetohydrodynamic conjugate natural convection in a nanofluid-saturated porous inclined enclosure

The magnetohydrodynamic conjugate heat transfer characteristics of a ferrofluid-filled porous inclined enclosure heated differentially have been investigated numerically in the present work. Two-conducting fins are attached to the hot wall of the cavity and the horizontal walls are insulated. The ranges of dimensionless flow controlling parameters are taken as: modified Rayleigh number (10 <= Ra* <= 10(4)), length of the fins (a = 0.3, 0.5, 0.7), gap between the two fins (b = 0.3, 0.5, 0.7), and Darcy number (10(-5) <= Da <= 10(-2)), volume fractions of nanoparticles (0 <= phi <= 0.06), Hartmann number (0 <= Ha <= 50), and the cavity inclination angles (0 <= gamma <= 90(o)). The finite element method has been used to solve the governing equations and the present code have been validated with previously published work. The results show that the average Nusselt number increases by increasing the modified Rayleigh number, Darcy number, fins length while it decreases by increasing the Hartmann number. For any range of modified Rayleigh numbers, the highest fin length and the widest gap between the fins can be a superior heating strategy. At a fixed fin length, the lower gap between the fins is of a better choice to boost heat transfer when the cavity inclination angle increases up to 30(o).

Automated summary

This study numerically investigates the magnetohydrodynamic conjugate heat transfer characteristics of a ferrofluid-filled porous inclined enclosure, with a focus on the influence of parameters such as fins length, gap between fins, modified Rayleigh number, Darcy number, and Hartmann number on the average Nusselt number. The results suggest that the fins length and gap between fins play a significant role in heat transfer enhancement, while the modified Rayleigh number, Darcy number, and Hartmann number also have notable effects.