Numerical Simulation of Hybrid Nanofluid Mixed Convection in a Lid-Driven Square Cavity with Magnetic Field Using High-Order Compact Scheme

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2021 Aug 31;11(9):2250. doi: 10.3390/nano11092250.

Abstract

In this study, the energy transference of a hybrid Al2O3-Cu-H2O nanosuspension within a lid-driven heated square chamber is simulated. The domain is affected by a horizontal magnetic field. The vertical sidewalls are insulated and the horizontal borders of the chamber are held at different fixed temperatures. A fourth-order accuracy compact method is applied to work out the vorticity-stream function view of incompressible Oberbeck-Boussinesq equations. The method used is validated against previous numerical and experimental works and good agreement is shown. The flow patterns, Nusselt numbers, and velocity profiles are studied for different Richardson numbers, Hartmann numbers, and the solid volume fraction of hybrid nanoparticles. Flow field and heat convection are highly affected by the magnetic field and volume fraction of each type of nanoparticles in a hybrid nanofluid. The results show an improvement of heat transfer using nanoparticles. To achieve a higher heat transmission rate by using the hybrid nanofluid, flow parameters like Richardson number and Hartmann number should be considered.

Keywords: compact finite difference scheme; hybrid nanofluid; lid-driven square cavity; magnetic field; mixed convection.