Natural convection of ferrofluid from a fixed vertical plate with aligned magnetic field and convective boundary condition

Abstract

The present study analyzed the influence of aligned and transverse magnetic field on two dimensional natural convection boundary layer flow of a ferrofluid over a semi-infinte fixed vertical plate in the presence of convective boundary condition. It is assumed that the left surface of the plate is in contact with a hot fluid while the cold fluid on the right surface. Two different base fluids (water and kerosene) containing magnetite (Fe3O4) as ferroparticle are considered. The governing boundary layer equations along with the appropriate boundary conditions are transformed to a set of ordinary differential equations using similarity variables. The resultant system of equations is then solved numerically by using Keller-Box method. Numerical results for the skin friction coefficient and local Nusselt number were presented whilst the velocity and temperature profiles illustrated graphically and analyzed. The effect of the inclined angle, magnetic field parameter, volume fraction, Grashof number and Biot number on the flow field were discussed. It is found that the heat transfer rate at the plate surface with Fe3O4- kerosene ferrofluid is higher than Fe3O4- water.