Enhancement of the heat transfer rate in natural convection of liquid metal under an external magnetic field

Three-dimensional numerical analyses were carried out for natural convection of liquid metal in a cubical enclosure under an external magnetic field. The system parameters are Ra=105, Ha=0-1000 and Pr=0.025. A vertical wall of the cubical enclosure is heated and the opposite vertical wall is cooled both isothermally, and the other four walls are thermally insulated. The direction of magnetic field was horizontal and parallel to both heated and cooled walls. Under a weak magnetic field, the average heat transfer rate on the heated wall was greater than that in the absence of the magnetic field. (author)