A Finite Element Analysis on MHD Free Convection Flow in Open Square Cavity Containing Heated Circular Cylinder

The problem of Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) free convection heat transfer in a square open cavity containing a heated circular cylinder at the centre has been investigated in this work. As boundary conditions of the cavity, the left vertical wall is kept at a constant heat flux, bottom and top walls are kept at different high and low temperature respectively. The remaining side wall is open. Finite element analysis based on Galerkin weighted Residual approach is used to visualize the temperature distribution and fluid flow solving two-dimensional governing mass, momentum and energy equations for steady state, natural convection flow in presence of magnetic field in side an open square cavity. A uniformly heated circular cylinder is located at the centre of the cavity. The object of this study is to describe the effects of MHD on the thermal fields and flow in presence of such heated circular cylinder by visualization of graph. The investigations are conducted for different values of Rayleigh number (Ra) and Hartmann number (Ha). The results show that the temperature field and flow pattern are significantly dependent on the above mentioned parameters.