Research Information System
Heat Transfer Research, vol.56, no.15, pp.73-92, 2025 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
The objective of this study is to numerically investigate the impact of oxytactic and gyrotactic bacteria on natural convection flow of Cu–water nanofluid in a differentially heated wavy cavity. An external uniform magnetic field is also taken into account. The steady dimensionless governing equations are numerically solved by global radial basis function method. In varying parameters of Rayleigh number, bioconvection Rayleigh numbers, Peclet numbers, Lewis numbers, Hartmann number, buoyancy ratio number, and amplitude of wavy walls, numerical results are examined with both contours and quantitative results. It is found that the presence of gyrotactic bacteria and nanoparticle concentration significantly affect the fluid flow and the convective heat and mass transfer. The average number of bacteria boosts with the increments in Peclet numbers. It is also found that the amplitude of wavy wall reduces the heat transfer and mass transfer rates by 45%, 28.03%, and 27.93%, respectively. Moreover, bacteria play a crucial role in bioreactors, drug delivery system, biofuel cells, enhancing sustainable and cleaner energy solutions and microfluidic devices, where their directional movement affects transport phenomena. The numerical results provide to understand the behavior under magnetic influences could lead to optimized designs in these fields.