International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 96 (2016) 513–524

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt

MHD free convection of Al2O3–water nanofluid considering thermal

radiation: A numerical study
M. Sheikholeslami a, T. Hayat b,c,⇑, A. Alsaedi c
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Babol University of Technology, Babol, Islamic Republic of Iran
b
Department of Mathematics, Quaid-I-Azam University 45320, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
c
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80257, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This article explores the effect of thermal radiation on Al2O3–water nanofluid flow and heat transfer in an
Received 11 January 2016 enclosure with a constant flux heating element. KKL (Koo–Kleinstreuer–Li) correlation is used for simu-
Received in revised form 24 January 2016 lating effective thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluid. The governing equations are solved via
Accepted 26 January 2016
control volume based finite element method. The effects of Rayleigh number, Hartman number, viscous
Available online 9 February 2016
dissipation parameter, radiation parameter and volume fraction of nanoparticle on the flow and heat
transfer characteristics have been examined. Results show that enhancement in heat transfer has direct
Keywords:
relationship with Hartman number, viscous dissipation parameter and radiation parameter but it has
Thermal radiation
Nanofluid
reverse relationship for Rayleigh number. It is also observed that Nusselt number is an increasing func-
MHD tion of Rayleigh number, volume fraction of nanoparticle and radiation parameter while it is a decreasing
CVFEM function of viscous dissipation parameter and Hartman number.
Viscous dissipation Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Brownian motion
Heat flux

1. Introduction
Study of free convection heat transfer in partitioned enclosures
has received significant attention in the recent years due to its use-
ful engineering applications such as solar collectors, thermal insu-
lation, cooling of electronic components and designing building. It
is well known that the effect of thermal radiation is important in
space technology and high temperature processes. Thermal radia-
tion also plays an important role in controlling heat transfer pro-
cess in polymer processing industry. The effect of radiation on
heat transfer problems have been studied by Hossain and Takhar
[1]. Zahmatkesh [2] found that the presence of thermal radiation
makes temperature distribution nearly uniform in the vertical sec-
tions inside the enclosure and it causes the streamlines to be
nearly parallel with the vertical walls. Pal and Mondal [3] have
investigated radiation effects on combined convection over a verti-
cal flat plate embedded in a porous medium of variable porosity.
Hayat et al. [4] described the heat transfer analysis with thermal
radiation on the two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic flow in
a channel with porous walls. Thermal radiation effects on MHD
forced convection flow adjacent to a non-isothermal wedge were
⇑ Corresponding author at: Department of Mathematics, Quaid-I-Azam Univer-
sity 45320, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan.
E-mail address: fmgpak@gmail.com (T. Hayat).
investigated by Chamkha et al. [5]. They showed that local Nusselt
number was predicted to decrease as the thermal radiation param-
eter was increased. Mixed convection boundary layer magnetohy-
drodynamic stagnation-point flow through a porous medium
bounded by a stretching vertical plate with thermal radiation
was studied by Hayat et al. [6]. They found that the values of skin
friction coefficient and the local Nusselt number are tabulated in
both cases of assisting and opposing flows.
Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) was initially applied to astro-
physical and geophysical problems. In recent years this subject
has attracted more attention due to its various applications in agri-
cultural engineering and petroleum industries. Rudraiah et al. [7]
investigated numerically the magnetic field effect on natural
convection in a rectangular enclosure. They found that the mag-
netic field decreases the rate of heat transfer. Hayat et al. [8] inves-
tigated the heat and mass transfer in magnetohydrodynamic
two-dimensional flow over a stretching sheet with Joule heating
and thermophoresis. Free convection heat transfer in concentric
annulus between a cold square and heated elliptic cylinders under
the influence of magnetic field was investigated by Sheikholeslami
et al. [9]. They found that the enhancement in heat transfer is
possible when Hartman number increases. However heat transfer
decreases with increase of Rayleigh number. Rashidi et al. [10]
studied the effects of magnetic interaction number, slip factor
and relative temperature difference on the velocity and

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2016.01.059
0017-9310/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
514 M. Sheikholeslami et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 96 (2016) 513–524

Nomenclature

B magnetic field hM angle of magnetic field

Cp specific heat at constant pressure r electrical conductivity
Gr f Grashof number qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi re Stefan–Boltzmann constant
Ha Hartmann number ð¼ LBx rf =lf Þ bR mean absorption coefficient
Nu Nusselt number a thermal diffusivity
Pr Prandtl number ð¼ tf =af Þ / volume fraction
T fluid temperature l dynamic viscosity
u; v velocity components in the x and y directions t kinematic viscosity
U; V dimensionless velocity components in the X and Y w&W stream function & dimensionless stream function
directions H dimensionless temperature
x; y space coordinates q fluid density
X; Y dimensionless space coordinates b thermal expansion coefficient
r non-dimensional radial distance
k thermal conductivity Subscripts
L length of outer enclosure c cold
!
g gravitational acceleration h hot
qr radiation heat flux loc local
q00 heat flux av e average
Ra Rayleigh number ð¼ gbf q00 L4 =ðk af tf ÞÞ nf nanofluid
Rd Radiation parameter ð¼ 4re T 3c =ðbR kÞÞ f base fluid
s solid particles
Greek symbols
e viscous dissipation parameter ð¼ al=ðqC p q00 L=kf ÞÞ
x; X vorticity & dimensionless vorticity

temperature profiles for entropy generation in magnetohydrody-
namic (MHD) flow of fluid with variable properties over a rotating
disk.
Practically, convective flow and heat transfer are affected by
nanofluid properties such as viscosity and thermal conductivity.
Conventional heat transfer fluids, including oil, water, and ethylene
glycol mixture are poor heat transfer fluids, since the thermal con-
ductivity of these fluids plays an important role on the heat trans-
fer coefficient between the heat transfer medium and the heat
transfer surface. An innovative technique for improving heat trans-
fer by using ultra-fine solid particles in the fluids has been used
extensively during the last decade (see recent studies [11–16]
and several refs. therein). The term nanofluid introduced by Choi
[17] refers to these kinds of fluids by suspending nano-scale parti-
cles in the base fluid. Khanafer et al. [18] seem to be the first who
have examined heat transfer performance of nanofluids inside an
enclosure taking into account the solid particle dispersion. Sheik-
holeslami et al. [19] used heatline analysis to simulate two phase
simulation of nanofluid flow and heat transfer. Their results indi-
cated that the average Nusselt number decreases as buoyancy ratio
number increases until it reaches a minimum value and then starts
increasing. Rashidi et al. [20] considered the analysis of the second
law of thermodynamics applied to an electrically conducting
incompressible nanofluid fluid flowing by a porous rotating disk.
They concluded that using magnetic rotating disk drives has
important applications in heat transfer enhancement in renewable

(a) (b)
Fig. 1. (a) Geometry and the boundary conditions; (b) A sample triangular element and its corresponding control volume.
 M. Sheikholeslami et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 96 (2016) 513–524 515

Table 1 Table 4
The coefficient values of Al2O3–Water nanofluid [43]. Average Nusselt number versus at different Grashof number under various strengths
of the magnetic field at Pr = 0.733.
Coefficient values Al2 O3–Water
a1 52.813488759
Ha Gr ¼ 2  104 Gr ¼ 2  105
a2 6.115637295 Present Rudraiah et al. [8] Present Rudraiah et al. [8]
a3 0.6955745084
a4 4.17455552786E02 0 2.5665 2.5188 5.093205 4.9198
a5 0.176919300241 10 2.26626 2.2234 4.9047 4.8053
a6 298.19819084 50 1.09954 1.0856 2.67911 2.8442
a7 34.532716906 100 1.02218 1.011 1.46048 1.4317
a8 3.9225289283
a9 0.2354329626
a10 0.999063481
Control volume based finite element method (CVFEM) is a
scheme that uses the advantages of both finite volume and finite
element methods for simulation of multi-physics problems in com-
energy systems. Ellahi [21] studied the MHD flow of non- plex geometries [23–25]. Sheikholeslami et al. [26] studied the
Newtonian nanofluid in a pipe. He observed that the MHD param- problem of natural convection between a circular enclosure and
eter decreases the fluid motion and the velocity profile is larger a sinusoidal cylinder. They concluded that streamlines, isotherms,
than that of temperature profile even in the presence of variable and the number, size and formation of the cells inside the enclo-
viscosities. MHD effect on natural convection heat transfer in an sure strongly depend on the Rayleigh number, values of amplitude
inclined L-shape enclosure filled with nanofluid was studied by and the number of undulations of the enclosure. MHD effect on
Sheikholeslami et al. [22]. They found that enhancement in heat natural convection heat transfer in an enclosure filled with
transfer has reverse relationship with Hartman number and nanofluid was studied by Sheikholeslami et al. [27]. Their results
Rayleigh number. indicated that Nusselt number is an increasing function of

Table 2
Thermo physical properties of water and nanoparticles [43].

q ðkg=m3 Þ C p ðj=kg kÞ k (W/m k) b  105 ðK1 Þ dp (nm) r ðX  mÞ1

Pure water 997.1 4179 0.613 21 – 0.05
Al2 O3 3970 765 25 0.85 47 1  1010

Table 3
Comparison of the average Nusselt number Nuav e for different grid resolution at Ra ¼ 105 , / ¼ 0:04, e ¼ 0:03, Ha ¼ 100; Rd ¼ 2 and Pr ¼ 6:2.
Mesh size 81  81 91  91 101  101 111  111 121  121
Nuav e 5.9861 5.9883 5.9898 5.9907 5.9914

(a) (b)
Fig. 2. (a) Comparison of the temperature on axial midline between the present results and numerical results by Sharif et al. [45]; (b) Comparison of average Nusselt number
between the present results and numerical results by Khanafer et al. [19] Gr ¼ 104 , / ¼ 0:1 and Pr ¼ 6:2ðCu—WaterÞ.
516 M. Sheikholeslami et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 96 (2016) 513–524

Fig. 3. Effects of radiation parameter, viscous dissipation parameter, Hartman number of on isotherms (left) and streamlines (right) when / ¼ 0:04; Ra ¼ 103 .
 M. Sheikholeslami et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 96 (2016) 513–524 517

Rd = 0 Rd = 2

Fig. 4. Effects of radiation parameter, viscous dissipation parameter, Hartman number of on isotherms (left) and streamlines (right) when / ¼ 0:04; Ra ¼ 104 .
518 M. Sheikholeslami et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 96 (2016) 513–524

Fig. 5. Effects of radiation parameter, viscous dissipation parameter, Hartman number on isotherms (left) and streamlines (right) when / ¼ 0:04; Ra ¼ 105 .
 M. Sheikholeslami et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 96 (2016) 513–524 519

(a) Ra = 10 , Rd = 1 (b) Ra = 10 , ε = 0.01

5 5

(c) ε = 0, Rd = 1 (d) ε = 0.01, Rd = 0

Fig. 6. Effects of radiation parameter, viscous dissipation parameter, Hartman number and Rayleigh number on average Nusselt number when / ¼ 0:04; Pr ¼ 6:2.

buoyancy ratio number but it is a decreasing function of Lewis
number and Hartman number. Sheikholeslami et al. [28] per-
formed a numerical analysis for natural convection heat transfer
of Cu–water nanofluid in a cold outer circular enclosure containing
a hot inner sinusoidal circular cylinder in presence of horizontal
magnetic field using the Control Volume based Finite Element
Method. They concluded that in absence of magnetic field,
enhancement ratio decreases as Rayleigh number increases while
an opposite trend is observed in the presence of magnetic field.
Also they found that the average Nusselt number is an increasing
function of nanoparticle volume fraction, the number of undula-
tions and Rayleigh numbers while it is a decreasing function of
Hartman number. Effect of double stratification in time-
dependent flow of viscous nanofluid is examined by Hayat et al.
[29]. In another article Hayat et al. [30] studied the radiative
MHD three dimensional flow of couple stress nanofluid by a
stretching sheet. Slip effect in MHD flow of viscous nanofluid has
been explored for the development of exact solutions in ref. [31].
Dhani et al. [32] addressed the MHD mixed convection slip flow
and heat transfer by an inclined cylinder. Bhattacharyya and Layek
[33] considered MHD flow of viscous nanofluid by an exponentially
stretching sheet. Effects of heat and mass transfer in MHD flow of
viscous nanofluid along a vertical stretching sheet with thermal
radiation and chemical reaction are analyzed by Haile and Shankar
[34]. Wahiduzzaman et al. [35] explored viscous dissipation and
thermal radiation in MHD flow of nanofluid due to rotating surface.
Natural convection flow of viscous nanofluid in presence of uni-
form applied magnetic field is discussed by Hamad [36]. Hakeem
et al. [37] examined second order slip and magnetic field effects
in flow over a stretching/shrinking surface. Mabood et al. [38]
numerically studied the MHD boundary layer flow over a nonlinear
stretching surface.
The main objective of present study is to examine the effect of
viscous dissipation and thermal radiation on MHD nanofluid flow
and heat transfer in an enclosure with constant heat flux element.
Note that the consideration of nanofluid subject to magnetohydro-
dynamics is significant in optical gratings, optical modulators,
magneto-optical wavelength filters etc. Magnetic particles are use-
ful in construction of loud speakers as sealing materials, in sink
float separation, drug delivery, hyperthermia, cancer therapy, con-
520 M. Sheikholeslami et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 96 (2016) 513–524

(a) Ra = 10 , ε = 0.0 (b) Ra = 10 , ε = 0.03

5 5

(c) ε = 0.005, Rd = 1
Fig. 7. Effects of radiation parameter, viscous dissipation parameter, Hartman number and Rayleigh number on ratio of enhancement when Pr ¼ 6:2.

qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
strast enhancement in magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic cell B¼ B2x þ B2y is applied, where e~x and e~y are unit vectors in the
separation and many other processes. CVFEM is used to simulate
the governing problem. The effective thermal conductivity and vis- Cartesian coordinate system. The orientation of the magnetic field
cosity of nanofluid are calculated by KKL (Koo–Kleinstreuer–Li) form an angle hM with horizontal axis such that hM ¼ cot1 ðBx =By Þ.
correlation. Effects of Rayleigh number, Hartman number, viscous The electric current J and the electromagnetic force F are defined
dissipation parameter, radiation parameter and volume fraction by J ¼ rð~
V ~ BÞ and F ¼ rð~V ~BÞ  ~
B, respectively.
of nanoparticle on the flow and heat transfer characteristics have
been examined. 3. Mathematical modeling and numerical procedure

3.1. Problem formulation

2. Geometry definition and boundary conditions
The numerical model consists in a two-dimensional square cav-
ity with side equal to L which represents the characteristic dimen-
sion of the problem (see Fig. 1(a)). The heat source is centrally
located on the bottom surface and its length L/3. The cooling is
achieved by the two vertical walls. The heat source has constant
heat flux q00 while the cooling walls have a constant temperature
T c ; all the other surfaces are adiabatic. Also it is also assumed that
the uniform magnetic field (~ B ¼ Bx e~x þ By e~y ) of constant magnitude
The flow is steady, two-dimensional, laminar and incompress-
ible. The induced electric current and Joule heating are neglected.
The magnetic Reynolds number is assumed small so that the
induced magnetic field can be neglected. The Rosseland approxi-
mation is used to describe the radiative heat flux in the energy
equation. The radiative heat flux in the x-direction is considered
negligible in comparison to the y-direction. Neglecting displace-
ment currents, induced magnetic field, and using the Boussinesq
approximation, the governing equations of heat transfer and fluid
flow for nanofluid can be obtained as follows:
 M. Sheikholeslami et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 96 (2016) 513–524 521

@u @ v Recently, there has been an increasing trend to emphasize the

þ ¼0 ð1Þ
@x @y importance of interfacial thermal resistance between nanoparticles
! and based fluids. The thermal interfacial resistance (Kapitza resis-
@u @u 1 @P @2u @2u tance) is believed to exist in the adjacent layers of the two different
u þv ¼ þt þ
@x @y qnf @x nf @x2 @y2 materials; the thin barrier layer plays a key role in weakening the
effective thermal conductivity of nanoparticle.
rnf B2  
þ v sin hM cos hM  u sin2 hM ð2Þ
Li [43] revisited the model of Koo and Kleinstreuer [44] and
qnf combined b and f functions to develop a new g 0 function which
captures the influences of particle diameter, temperature and vol-
!
@v @v 1 @P @2v @2v ume fraction. The empirical g 0 -function depends on the type of
u þv ¼ þ tnf þ þ bnf gðT  T c Þ nanofluid [44]. Also, by introducing a thermal interfacial resistance
@x @y qnf @y @x2 @y2
Rf ¼ 4  108 km =W the original kp in Eq. (9) was replaced by a
2

rnf B2
þ ðu sin hM cos hM  v cos2 hM Þ ð3Þ new kp;eff in the form:
qnf dp dp
Rf þ ¼ ð10Þ
! kp kp;eff
@T @T @2T @2T 1 @qr lnf
u þv ¼ anf þ  þ ðu2 þ v 2 Þ For different based fluids and different nanoparticles, the func-
@x @y @x2 @y2 ðqC p Þnf @y ðqC p Þnf
tion should be different. Only water based nanofluids are consid-
ð4Þ ered in the current study. For Al2O3–water nanofluids, this
where the radiation heat flux qr is considered according to function follows the format:

Rosseland approximation such that qr ¼  43brRe @T 4

where re ; bR are g 0 ðT; /; dp Þ ¼ ða1 þ a2 ln ðdp Þ þ a3 ln ð/Þ þ a4 ln ð/Þ ln ðdp Þ
@y
2
the Stefan–Boltzmann constant and the mean absorption þ a5 ln ðdp Þ Þ ln ðTÞ þ ða6 þ a7 ln ðdp Þ þ a8 ln ð/Þ
coefficient, respectively. Following Raptis [39–41], the fluid-phase 2
þ a9 ln ð/Þ lnðdp Þ þ a10 ln ðdp Þ Þ ð11Þ
temperature differences within the flow are assumed to be
sufficiently small so that T 4 may be expressed as a linear function with the coefficients ai (i = 0..10) are based on the type of nanopar-
of temperature. This is done by expanding T 4 in a Taylor series tices, Al2O3–water nanofluids has an R2 of 96% and 98%, respec-
about the temperature T c and neglecting higher order terms to tively [32] (Table1). Finally, the KKL (Koo–Kleinstreuer–Li)
correlation is written as:
yield, T 4 ffi 4T 3c T  3T 4c . sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
The effective density (qnf ), the thermal expansion coefficient jb T 0
kBrownian ¼ 5  104 /qf cp;f g ðT; /; dp Þ ð12Þ
(bnf )and heat capacitance ðqC p Þnf of the nanofluid are defined as qp dp
[18]:
Koo and Kleinstreuer [27] further investigated laminar nano-
qnf ¼ qf ð1  /Þ þ qs / fluid flow in micro heat-sinks using the effective nanofluid thermal
bnf ¼ bf ð1  /Þ þ bs / ð5Þ conductivity model they had established. For the effective viscosity
ðqC p Þnf ¼ ðqC p Þf ð1  /Þ þ ðqC p Þs / due to micro mixing in suspensions, they proposed:
kBrownian lf
Also effective electrical conductivity of nanofluid presented by leff ¼ lstatic þ lBrownian ¼ lstatic þ  ð13Þ
Maxwell [28] is: kf Prf
l
rnf 3ðrs =rf  1Þ/ where lstatic ¼ ð1/Þf 2:5 is viscosity of the nanofluid, as given originally
¼1þ ð6Þ
rf ðrs =rf þ 2Þ  ðrs =rf  1Þ/ by Brinkman.
The stream function and vorticity are defined as:
The Brownian motion has a significant impact on the effective
thermal conductivity. Koo and Kleinstreuer [42] proposed that the @w @w @ v @u
u¼ ; v¼ ; x¼  ð14Þ
effective thermal conductivity is composed of the particle’s @y @x @x @y
conventional static part and a Brownian motion part. This
The stream function satisfies the continuity Eq. (1). The vorticity
2-component thermal conductivity model takes into account the
equation is obtained by eliminating the pressure between the two
effects of particle size, particle volume fraction and temperature
momentum equations, i.e. by taking y-derivative of Eq. (2) and sub-
dependence as well as types of particle and base fluid combinations.
tracting from it the x-derivative of Eq. (3). This gives:
keff ¼ kstatic þ kBrownian ð7Þ !  
@w @ x @w @ x @2x @2x @T
 ¼ tnf þ þ bnf g
kstatic 3ðkp =kf  1Þ/ @y @x @x @y @x 2 @y 2 @x
¼1þ ð8Þ
ðkp =kf þ 2Þ  ðkp =kf  1Þ/ 2
kf rnf B dv du 2
þ  sin hM cos hM þ sin hM
where, kstatic is the static thermal conductivity based on Maxwell qnf dy dy

classical correlation. The enhanced thermal conductivity compo- du dv
nent generated by micro-scale convective heat transfer of a parti- þ sin hM cos hM  cos2 hM ð15Þ
dx dx
cle’s Brownian motion and affected by ambient fluid motion is
!
obtained via simulating Stokes’ flow around a sphere (nano- lnf
@w @T @w @T @2T @2T 1 @qr
particle). By introducing two empirical functions (b and f ) Koo  ¼ anf þ  þ
@y @x @x @y @x2 @y2 ðqC p Þnf @y ðqC p Þnf
[42] combined the interaction between nanoparticles in addition
to the temperature effect in the model, leading to:  ðu2 þ v 2 Þ ð16Þ
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
jb T
kBrownian 4
¼ 5  10 b/qf cp;f f ðT; /Þ ð9Þ @2w @2w
qp dp þ ¼ x ð17Þ
@x2 @y2
522 M. Sheikholeslami et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 96 (2016) 513–524

By introducing the following non-dimensional variables: and the values of variables are approximated with linear interpola-
tion within the elements. The control volumes are created by join-
x y xL w 2
T  Tc uL vL
X¼ ; Y ¼ ; X¼ ; W ¼ ; H ¼ 00 ; U¼ ; V¼ ing the center of each element in the support to the mid points of
L L af af ðq L=kf Þ af af the element sides that pass through the central node i which cre-
ð18Þ ates a close polygonal control volume (see Fig. 1(b)). The set of gov-
erning equations is integrated over the control volume with the
the equations now become:
use of linear interpolation inside the finite element and the
! !
@W @X @W @X lnf qf kf ðqC p Þnf @2X @2X obtained algebraic equations are solved by the Gauss–Seidel
 ¼ Prf þ Method. A FORTRAN code is developed to solve the present prob-
@Y @X @X @Y lf qnf knf ðqC p Þf@X 2
@Y 2
  lem using a structured mesh of linear triangular. The details of this
bnf @ H rnf qf method are mentioned in [27].
þ Raf Prf þ Ha2 Prf
bf @X rf qnf
 
dV dU dU dV 4. Grid testing and code validation
 tanhM þ tan2 hM þ tanhM  ð19Þ
dY dY dX dX
! To guarantee the grid-independency of the present solution a
@ W @ H @ W @ H knf ðqC p Þf @2H mesh testing procedure was conducted. Different mesh combina-
 ¼
@Y @X @X @Y kf ðqC p Þnf @X 2 tions were explored for the case of Ra ¼ 105 , / ¼ 0:04, e ¼ 0:03,
 1 ! 2 Ha ¼ 100; Rd ¼ 2 and Pr ¼ 6:2 as shown in Table 3. The present code
knf ðqC p Þf 4 knf @ H was tested for grid independence by calculating the average Nusselt
þ þ Rd
kf ðqC p Þnf 3 kf @Y 2 number on the outer circular wall. In harmony with this, it is found
  that a grid size of 101  101 ensures a grid-independent solution.
knf ðqC p Þf lnf 2
þe ðu þ v 2 Þ ð20Þ The convergence criterion for the termination of all computations is:
kf ðqC p Þnf lf
maxjCsþ1  Cs j 6 107 ð26Þ
grid
@ W
2
@ W
2
þ ¼ X ð21Þ
@X 2 @Y 2 where s is the iteration number and C stands for the independent
4 00
variables (X; W; H). The average Nusselt number using different Gr
where Raf ¼ gbf L q =ðkf af tf Þ is the Rayleigh number for the base and Ha numbers have been compared with those obtained by
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
fluid, Ha ¼ HBx rf =lf is the Hartman number and Prf ¼ tf =af is Rudraiah et al. [7] as shown in Table 4. Fig. 2(a) illustrates the com-
parison between the calculated average Nusselt number on the bot-
the Prandtl number for the base fluid. Also Rd ¼ 4re T 3c =ðbR kÞ and
tom wall with constant heat flux and the numerical results of Sharif
e ¼ al=ðqC p q00 L=kf Þ are radiation parameter and viscous dissipation et al. [34] for cavity inclination angle equals to zero, dimensionless
parameter, respectively. The thermo physical properties of nano- length of the heat source 0:6 and different Grashof numbers. In
fluid are given in Table2 [43]. The boundary conditions as shown Fig. 2(b), the present computation is also validated against the
in Fig. 1 are: results of Khanafer et al. [18] carried for natural convection in an
@ H=@n ¼ 1:0 on the heat source enclosure filled with Cu–water nanofluid for different Grashof num-
H ¼ 0:0 on the left and right bers. These comparisons illustrate an excellent agreement between
ð22Þ the present calculations and the previous works.
@ H=@n ¼ 0:0 on all the other adiabatic surfaces
W ¼ 0:0 on all solid boundaries
5. Results and discussion
The values of vorticity on the boundary of enclosure can be
obtained using the stream function formulation and the known In this study the effect of thermal radiation on the improvement
velocity conditions during the iterative solution procedure. The of magnetohydrodynamic free convective heat transfer in a square
local Nusselt number of the nanofluid along the heat source can cavity which is heated by a constant flux heating element at the
be expressed as: bottom surface is investigated. CVFEM was utilized to obtain the
   1 !  numerical simulation. The enclosure is filled with Al2O3–water
knf 4 knf 1 nanofluid. The effective thermal conductivity and viscosity of
Nulocal ¼ 1 þ Rd  ð23Þ
kf 3 kf h nanofluid are calculated by KKL (Koo–Kleinstreuer–Li) correlation.
L=3<X<2L=3;Y¼0
Effect of active parameters such as: Rayleigh number
The average Nusselt number on hot circular wall is evaluated
(Ra ¼ 103 ; 104 and 105 ), Hartman number (Ha ¼ 0; 20; 60 and
as:
100), viscous dissipation parameter (e ¼ 0 to 0.03), radiation
Z
1 2L=3 parameter (Rd ¼ 0; 1 and 2) and volume fraction of nanoparticle
Nuav e ¼ Nuloc ðXÞ dX ð24Þ (/ ¼ 0 and 0.04) on flow and heat transfer are examined when
L=3 L=3
Pr ¼ 6:2.
To estimate the enhancement of heat transfer between the case Effects of radiation parameter, viscous dissipation parameter,
of / ¼ 0:04 and the pure fluid (base fluid) case, the enhancement is Hartman number and Rayleigh number on isotherms and stream-
defined as: lines are depicted in Figs. 3–5. It is evident from these Figs. that the
Nuð/ ¼ 0:04Þ  Nuðbase fluidÞ flow circulation enhances as the radiation parameter increases.
E¼  100 ð25Þ Moreover, the streamlines begin to take the enclosure geometry.
Nuðbase fluidÞ
Also it can be seen that isotherms move upward. As viscous dissi-
pation parameter increases, wmax increases and isotherms move
3.2. Numerical procedure away from bottom heater. By increasing Rayleigh number the
prominent heat transfer mechanism is turned from conduction to
A control volume finite element method is used in this work. convection. When the magnetic field is imposed on the enclosure,
The building block of the discretization is the triangular element the velocity field suppressed owing to the retarding effect of the
 M. Sheikholeslami et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 96 (2016) 513–524
Lorenz force. Thus intensity of convection weakens significantly.
The braking effect of magnetic field is observed from the maximum
stream function value. The core vortex is shift downward vertically
as the Hartman number increases. Also imposing magnetic field
leads to omit the thermal plume over the bottom wall. At high
Hartman number the conduction heat transfer mechanism is more
pronounced. For this reason the isotherms are parallel to each
other.
Effects of radiation parameter, viscous dissipation parameter,
Hartman number and Rayleigh number on average Nusselt number
are shown in Fig. 6. Increasing Hartman number causes Lorenz
force to increase and leads to a substantial suppression of the con-
vection. So Nusselt number has reverse relationship with Hartman
number. Nusselt number increases with augment of Rayleigh num-
ber due to domination of convective heat transfer. As radiation
parameter increases the Nusselt number enhances but opposite
trend is observed for viscous dissipation parameter.
Fig. 7 shows the effects of radiation parameter, viscous dissipa-
tion parameter, Hartman number and Rayleigh number on ratio of
enhancement. Heat transfer enhancement increases for larger radi-
ation parameter. This effect is more sensible for high magnetic
field. Increasing viscous dissipation parameter leads to augment
in ratio of enhancement especially in absence of magnetic field.
Heat transfer enhancement ratio has direct relationship with
Hartman number but it has reverse relationship with Rayleigh
number. This observation is due to domination of conduction heat
transfer in low Rayleigh number and high Hartman number.
Therefore the addition of high thermal conductivity nanoparticles
will increase the conduction and make the enhancement more
effective.
6. Conclusions
Thermal radiation effect on magnetohydrodynamic nanofluid
flow and heat transfer is studied numerically using Control Volume
based Finite Element Method. In many applications, especially for
cooling of electronic components, a natural convection configura-
tion is encountered where a constant flux heating element at the
bottom surface are cooled from the isothermal sidewalls while
the top wall can be considered adiabatic. Having such in mind this
geometry is considered in this study. The model used for the nano-
fluid incorporates the effects of Brownian motion. The effects of
Rayleigh number, Hartman number, viscous dissipation parameter,
radiation parameter and volume fraction of nanoparticle on the
flow and heat transfer characteristics have been tested. Results
indicate that Nusselt number increases with augment of Rayleigh
number, volume fraction of nanoparticle and radiation parameter
while it decreases with increase of viscous dissipation parameter
and Hartman number. Also it can be concluded that enhancement
in heat transfer is an increasing function of Hartman number, vis-
cous dissipation parameter and radiation parameter but it is a
decreasing function of Rayleigh number.
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