Numerical Investigation of Free Convection of MHD-Nanofluid in a Square Cavity with a Heated Cone

Free convection of Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) fluid, seeded with nanoparticles, in a square cavity with a heated cone inside, has been investigated numerically in this work. The mathematical model is developed by combining the mass, momentum and energy equations. The system of equations is solved by finite element method. Calculations are performed for different values of the dimensionless parameters: Prandtl number (Pr), Rayleigh number (Ra), Hartmann number (Ha) and the volume fraction of the nanoparticle (φ). The results are illustrated with streamlines, velocity profiles, isotherms, local and average Nusselt number (Nu), and heat flux. It is found that, the volume fraction of nanoparticle (φ) is the most important parameter affecting the entire convection process. Adding nanoparticles significantly slows down the fluid velocity, but enhances the heat transfer. The effect of varying φ, surpasses the effects of all other governing parameters with regards to heat transfer.