Steady and Unsteady Dynamics of Magneto-Nanofluidic Flow in a Bottom-Heated Top-Cooled Recto-Triangular Thermal System
Nirmal K. Manna, Nirmalendu Biswas, Dipak Kumar Mandal, Chandan Kumar Yadav
Abstract
This work numerically explores the evolution flow features during the journey through unsteady to steady dynamics in a magneto-nanofluidic thermal system of recto-triangular shape. This system, which is partially heated using the triangular surface and employs a top-cooling configuration, features an upper rectangular and a lower triangular part. The study addresses laminar flow for various Rayleigh numbers (Ra) up to 105 considering uniform magnetic fields at different inclination angles and utilizing a 0.1% nanoparticle concentration (fixed) CuO-water nanofluid along with a finite element-based solver. The results reveal the formation of multi-vortical structures with varying numbers of circulation cells. The most important observation is the transformation of cells from a four-cell configuration to a one-cell configuration, and finally to a two-cell configuration as Ra changes from 103 to 104 to 105 without a magnetic field. The one-cell structure sustains over a narrow range of Ra and is sensitive to the Hartmann number (Ha). The inclined magnetic fields have a severe impact on the flow structure. Starting from a quiescent state and progressing through the unsteady flow stages, the system rapidly reaches a steady state under different temperature differences (simulated by Ra), except for a few exceptions of Ra and Ha values. The analysis of the unsteady stages of flow development provides deeper insights into the dynamics of multi-cellular flows.