Enhancing heat transfer in a high Hartmann number magnetohydrodynamic channel flow via torsional oscillation of a cylindrical obstacle

An approach is studied for side-wall heat transfer enhancement in the magnetohydrodynamic flow of fluid in a rectangular duct that is damped by a strong transverse magnetic field. The mechanism employs the rotational oscillation of a cylinder placed inside the duct to encourage vortex shedding, which promotes the mixing of fluid near a hot duct wall with cooler fluid in the interior. The effectiveness of the heat transfer enhancement is investigated over a wide range of oscillation amplitudes and forcing frequencies. The motivation for exploring this mechanism is inspired by the transient growth response of this flow, which indicates that the optimal disturbances feeding the vortex shedding process are localized near the cylinder, and are characterized by an asymmetrical disturbance with respect to the wake centreline. The results show that a considerable increase in heat transfer from the heated channel wall due to rotational oscillation of the cylinder can be achieved, with the maximum enhancement of more than 30% over a zone extending 10d downstream of the cylinder. As the angular velocity amplitude of oscillation is increased, the range of oscillation frequencies for effective enhancement is widened, and the frequency at which the peak Nusselt number occurs is shifted slightly to lower frequencies. As the amplitude is increased, the formation of strong discrete wake vortices draws fluid from the wall boundary layers into the wake, enhancing heat transfer. The effect of oscillation amplitude on the distribution of local Nusselt number Nu(w) along the heated wall is significant. With an increase in Reynolds number, scope for additional heat transfer enhancement is possible. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4767515]