Magneto-hydrothermal convective dynamics of hybrid nanofluid-packed partially cooled porous cavity: effect of half-sinusoidal heating

An investigation is carried out to study the thermo-fluid flow behavior of Cu/Al2O3-water hybrid nanofluid in a porous enclosure. The bottom wall of the problem domain is half-sinusoidally heated with various frequencies (f) and amplitudes (I). This enclosure is cooled partially at the half portion of the sidewalls, and the magnetic field acts horizontally. The Brinkman-Forchheimer-Darcy extended model is adopted for porous material modeling. The finite volume approach is employed for the solution of the coupled equations. The investigation is carried out for finding out the best significant parameters like frequency (f) and amplitude (I) of sinusoidal heating, modified Rayleigh number (Ra-m), Darcy number (Da), Hartmann number (Ha), porosity (epsilon), and hybrid nanoparticle concentrations (phi). Furthermore, the effect of the cooler positions is also explored for reporting superior geometric configuration. The coupled isotherm-streamline contours, heat energy contour profiles, and associated heat exchange rate of such parametric-dominated cases are analyzed meticulously. It is scrutinized that the energy transfer rate is enhanced at elevated Ram,I, and epsilon with increasing frequency. The addition of Cu/Al2O3 nanoparticles and the augmentation of Da and Ha decrease heat transfer. The cooler positions with bottom-bottom configuration are the best choice for maximum energy transport. For visualizing the heat flow dynamics from the heated wall to the cold wall, heatline contours are utilized. The heightening of heat transfer goes up to 370.77% compared to uniform heating condition. Appropriate correlations involving various controlling parameters are also developed through the regression analysis for predicting the heat transfer characteristics, which would be very helpful for the designer to develop any such thermal devices.

Automated summary

An investigation is conducted to study the thermo-fluid flow behavior of Cu/Al2O3-water hybrid nanofluid in a porous enclosure with various half-sinusoidal heating conditions. The study reveals the significant parameters that affect heat transfer, such as frequency, amplitude, modified Rayleigh number, Darcy number, Hartmann number, porosity, and hybrid nanoparticle concentrations. The effect of cooler positions on energy transport is also explored, and the bottom-bottom configuration is found to be the most favorable. The study provides useful correlations for predicting heat transfer characteristics and guiding thermal devices design.