NUMERICAL STUDY OF MHD CONVECTIVE NANOFLUID FLOWS WITHIN A CORRUGATED TRAPEZOIDAL ENCLOSURE

Abstract

We consider the unsteady magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) natural convection flows of alumina (Al2O3)-water and single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT)-water nanofluids within a symmetrical corrugated trapezoidal enclosure with the effects of viscous and Joule dissipations. In this study, the corrugated bottom wall is isothermally heated, whereas the top wall is thermally insulated. The temperature of the side walls is fixed at the initial nanofluid temperature within the enclosure. We solve the governing equations for velocity and temperature, along with the corresponding initial and boundary conditions, using the polynomial pressure projection stabilized (PPPS) finite element method. The effects of sidewall inclination angle and Eckert number on nanofluid flow and convective heat transfer within the corrugated enclosure are examined. The results obtained from this study are important in various fields of engineering and technology, such as the design and manufacture of efficient heat exchangers and the cooling of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) using nanofluids.