Numerical Simulation of MHD Free Convection Flow in a Differentially Heated Square Enclosure with Tilted Obstacle

A numerical study has been carried out to analyze the flow and heat transfer characteristics due to the effects of magnetohydrodynamic free convection flow in a differentially heated enclosure having a hot tilted square block. The vertical and horizontal walls of the cavity are non-uniformly heated while the walls of the tilted block are uniformly heated. The basic partial differential equations of the physical problem are solved numerically using finite element technique along with Galerkin's weighted residual simulation. Calculations have been performed for different values of buoyancy parameter (10(2) <= Ra <= 10(5)) and magnetic field parameter (0 <= Ha <= 60) and obtained results are illustrated in terms of streamlines, isotherms, average Nusselt number and average temperature. The results show that the flow pattern and temperature distributions affected noticeably for the effect of aforementioned parameters. In addition, an increase in average Nusselt number is found for the whole range of Rayleigh number and average temperature decreased for increasing Rayleigh number. Comparison between the obtained results and the previously published results on the basis of special case is a good agreement.