Effect of different magnetic field distributions on laminar ferroconvection heat transfer in horizontal tube

The forced convection heat transfer of ferrofluid steady state laminar flow through a circular axisymmetric horizontal pipe under different magnetic field is the focus of this study. The pipe is under constant heat flux while different linear axial magnetic fields were applied on the ferrofluid with equal magnetic energy. In this scenario, viscosity of ferrofluid is temperature dependent, to capture ferrofluid real behavior a nonlinear Langevin equation was considered for equilibrium magnetization. For this purpose, the set of nonlinear governing PDEs was solved using proper CFD techniques: the finite volume method and SIMPLE algorithm were used to discretize and numerically solve the governing equation in order to obtain thermohydrodynamic flow characteristics. The numerical results show a promising enhancement of up to 135.7% in heat transfer as a consequence of the application of magnetic field. The magnetic field also increases pressure loss of up to 77% along the pipe; but effectiveness (favorable to unfavorable effect ratio) of the magnetic field as a performance index economically justifies its application such that higher magnetic field intensity causes higher effectiveness of up to 1.364. •In this numerical study, the thermohydrodynamic characteristics of a laminar steady state ferroconvection was investigated in circular axisymmetric pipe under constant heat flux.•A magnetic field causes an increase in both pressure loss and heat transfer such that performance index remain acceptable for all linear distributions.•In constant total magnetic energy, an increase of magnetic field gradient tends to decrease the effectiveness slightly.•Magnetic field of lower gradient with high intensity is the best choice for both saving energy and heat transfer enhancement increase of up to 1.3638 and 135.65% respectively.