Copyright © 2011 Mahshid Hadavand and Antonio C. M. Sousa. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Thermomagnetic convection in a differentially heated square cavity with an infinitely long third dimension is numerically simulated using the single relaxation time lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). This problem is of considerable interest when dealing with cooling of microelectronic devices, in situations where natural convection does not meet the cooling requirements, and forced convection is not viable due to the difficulties associated with pumping a ferrofluid. Therefore, circulation is achieved by imposing a magnetic field, which is created and controlled by placing a dipole at the bottom of the enclosure. The magnitude of the magnetic force is controlled by changing the electrical current through the dipole. In this study, the effects of combined natural convection and magnetic convection, which is commonly known as “thermomagnetic convection,” are analysed in terms of the flow modes and heat transfer characteristics of a magnetic fluid.