Abstract
Natural convection in CuO-water nanofluid filled trapezoidal cavity having flexible side walls under the effect of inclined magnetic field was numerically investigated. The side walls of the trapezoidal cavity are adiabatic while top and bottom walls are at constant temperatures. The governing equations are solved with finite element method. The effects of the Rayleigh number (between 10(4) and 10(6)), inclination angle of the side walls (between 10 degrees and 60 degrees), elastic modulus of the flexible side wall (between 500 and 10(5)), Hartmann number (between 0 and 40), inclination angle of the magnetic field (between 0 degrees and 90 degrees) and solid volume fraction of the nanoparticle (between 0 and 0.04) on the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics were studied. As the value of the Rayleigh number, inclination angle of the side wall and nanoparticle volume fraction increase, local and averaged heat transfer enhance. Local and averaged Nusselt number generally reduces with increasing values of Hartmann number. An optimum magnetic inclination angle is found to reach the maximum averaged heat transfer which depends on the inclination angle of the side wall. The influence of the elastic modulus of the flexible side wall on the heat transfer strongly depends on the inclination angle of the side wall.