Symmetry and Asymmetry in the Thermo-Magnetic Convection of Silver Nanofluid

Application of nanofluids is aimed at enhancing the heat transfer performance the same as the utilization of a strong magnetic field. The potential of the combined effect of these passive and active methods was analyzed numerically. The silver nanofluid thermo-magnetic convection in a cubical enclosure placed in the Rayleigh–Benard configuration was investigated for various concentrations of nanoparticles and various values of magnetic induction at constant temperature difference. The nanofluid flow was considered as a two-phase flow and studied with the Euler–Euler approach. The main outcome was related to the heat transfer performance, but also a lot of attention was paid to the flow structure, which is very difficult to obtain by experimental methods. The results exhibited a flow structure with diagonal axis of symmetry in all analyzed cases and stabilizing effect of magnetic field. The heat transfer performance is indicated by the Nusselt number, which increases with an increasing value of magnetic induction but decreases with an increasing concentration of nanoparticles.

Heat transfer and flow regimes in quasi-static magnetoconvection with a vertical magnetic field

Numerical simulations of quasi-static magnetoconvection with a vertical magnetic field are carried out up to a Chandrasekhar number of $Q=10^{8}$ over a broad range of Rayleigh numbers $Ra$. Three magnetoconvection regimes are identified: two of the regimes are magnetically constrained in the sense that a leading-order balance exists between the Lorentz and buoyancy forces, whereas the third regime is characterized by unbalanced dynamics that is similar to non-magnetic convection. Each regime is distinguished by flow morphology, momentum and heat equation balances, and heat transport behaviour. One of the magnetically constrained regimes appears to represent an ‘ultimate’ magnetoconvection regime in the dual limit of asymptotically large buoyancy forcing and magnetic field strength; this regime is characterized by an interconnected network of anisotropic, spatially localized fluid columns aligned with the direction of the imposed magnetic field that remain quasi-laminar despite having large flow speeds. As for non-magnetic convection, heat transport is controlled primarily by the thermal boundary layer. Empirically, the scaling of the heat transport and flow speeds with $Ra$ appear to be independent of the thermal Prandtl number within the magnetically constrained, high-$Q$ regimes.