Magnetic field influence on double-diffusive natural convection in a square cavity – A numerical study

In this paper double diffusive natural convection in a square cavity in the presence of external magnetic field has been studied numerically by Galerkin’s weighted residual finite element method using velocity-vorticity formulation. Simulation results are reported for 0 < Ha < 200, buoyancy ratio, 2 < N < 2, 104 < Ra < 106 and field inclination angle varying from 00 to 3600 for different fluid systems, namely gas, water, and liquid Gallium. Results indicate that the streamline pattern is greatly influenced by the direction and intensity of magnetic field and at Ra = 1.0e5, the increase in Ha from 0 to 30 has resulted in a decrease in Nusselt number and Sherwood number by about 72% and 78% respectively. The inclination angle has played an important role in the suppression of heat and mass transfer, maximum suppression is experienced at Θ = 45 and 270 while minimum is recorded at Θ = 135 and 315. Liquid Gallium showed the least response to change in magnetic field intensity compared to other two fluids.