A comprehensive review on natural convection in various shaped enclosures by FEM: Engineering applications
Natural convection within enclosed cavities plays a critical role in heat and mass transfer across a wide range of engineering applications. Buoyancy flows are a fundamental aspect of many optimized systems currently deployed, including passive cooling of electronic devices, thermoregulation of sola...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-10-01
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| Series: | South African Journal of Chemical Engineering |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1026918525001052 |
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| Summary: | Natural convection within enclosed cavities plays a critical role in heat and mass transfer across a wide range of engineering applications. Buoyancy flows are a fundamental aspect of many optimized systems currently deployed, including passive cooling of electronic devices, thermoregulation of solar collectors, and insulation of buildings to store energy used by aerospace systems. Recent advancements in nanofluids, magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), and smart materials have increased the functional applicability of natural-convection-based systems, and modern forms of the Finite Element Method (FEM) have become essential in the accurate modelling of heat and fluid flow in geometrically complex enclosures. The review explores the dynamic fields in detail but with particular focus on how they are applicable in heat exchangers in industry, microfluidic devices, biomedical incubators, and environmental ventilation systems. The review further explores localized heat sources, vortex formation due to embedded obstacles, porous media effects, and the synergistic influence of thermal and magnetic fields. This review investigates how integrating the Finite Element Method (FEM) with artificial intelligence, entropy-based optimization, and experimental validation can transform the design and advancement of next-generation thermal management systems. The findings underscore FEM’s utility as a multi-physics simulation tool for real-world thermal challenges, with particular relevance to South Africa’s growing demand for energy-efficient buildings, renewable energy solutions, and sustainable manufacturing technologies. |
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| ISSN: | 1026-9185 |