Numerical study of the ferrofluid flow and heat transfer through a rectangular duct in the presence of a non-uniform transverse magnetic field

This paper investigates numerically the hydro-thermal characteristics of a ferrofluid (water and 4 vol% Fe3O4) in a vertical rectangular duct which is exposed to a non-uniform transverse magnetic field generated by an electric current going through a wire located parallelly under the duct. The two phase mixture model and the control volume technique have been used to study the flow. The results show that applying the aforementioned magnetic field increases the Nusselt number and friction factor and also creates a pair of vortices that enhances heat transfer and prevents sedimentation of nano-particles. Furthermore, unlike the axial non-uniform magnetic field, the increase of the Nusselt number for the transverse magnetic field is considerable in all length along the duct and it is also concluded that with increasing the Reynolds number, the effect of the transverse non-uniform magnetic field on the Nusselt number is more than that of the axial non-uniform magnetic field. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.