Natural Convection Heat Transfer in an Enclosure Filled with an Ethylene Glycol—Copper Nanofluid Under Magnetic Fields

This article presents the results of a numerical study on natural convection in a square enclosure filled with ethylene glycol–copper nanofluid in the presence of magnetic fields. Two opposite horizontal walls of the enclosure are insulated and the two vertical walls are kept constant at different temperatures. A uniform horizontal magnetic field is externally imposed. The governing equations (mass, momentum, and energy) are formulated and solved numerically with a finite element using COMSOL Multiphysics. The effects of pertinent parameters such as Rayleigh number (103 ≤ Ra ≤ 107), Hartmann number (0 ≤ Ha ≤ 120), and solid volume fraction (0 ≤ φ ≤ 0.06) on the flow and the heat transfer performance of the enclosure are examined when the Prandtl number is assumed to be Pr = 151.