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: Asif Hasan, Mohammad Mokaddes Ali, Shakhawat Hossain, Neamul Haque Siam, Asaduzzaman Rony, Al-Amin Shohan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-10-01
Series:South African Journal of Chemical Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1026918525001052
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author Asif Hasan
Mohammad Mokaddes Ali
Shakhawat Hossain
Neamul Haque Siam
Asaduzzaman Rony
Al-Amin Shohan
author_facet Asif Hasan
Mohammad Mokaddes Ali
Shakhawat Hossain
Neamul Haque Siam
Asaduzzaman Rony
Al-Amin Shohan
author_sort Asif Hasan
collection DOAJ
description 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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institution Kabale University
issn 1026-9185
language English
publishDate 2025-10-01
publisher Elsevier
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series South African Journal of Chemical Engineering
spelling doaj-art-1d9ec614ee0e4aa5afb2be2252205b6e2025-08-25T04:13:59ZengElsevierSouth African Journal of Chemical Engineering1026-91852025-10-015430833410.1016/j.sajce.2025.08.009A comprehensive review on natural convection in various shaped enclosures by FEM: Engineering applicationsAsif Hasan0Mohammad Mokaddes Ali1Shakhawat Hossain2Neamul Haque Siam3Asaduzzaman Rony4Al-Amin Shohan5Corresponding author.; Department of Mathematics, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Tangail 1902, BangladeshDepartment of Mathematics, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Tangail 1902, BangladeshDepartment of Mathematics, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Tangail 1902, BangladeshDepartment of Mathematics, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Tangail 1902, BangladeshDepartment of Mathematics, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Tangail 1902, BangladeshDepartment of Mathematics, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Tangail 1902, BangladeshNatural 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.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1026918525001052Natural convectionNanofluidHybrid nanofluidsMagnetohydrodynamics (MHD)Entropy generationFinite Element Method (FEM)
spellingShingle Asif Hasan
Mohammad Mokaddes Ali
Shakhawat Hossain
Neamul Haque Siam
Asaduzzaman Rony
Al-Amin Shohan
A comprehensive review on natural convection in various shaped enclosures by FEM: Engineering applications
South African Journal of Chemical Engineering
Natural convection
Nanofluid
Hybrid nanofluids
Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD)
Entropy generation
Finite Element Method (FEM)
title A comprehensive review on natural convection in various shaped enclosures by FEM: Engineering applications
title_full A comprehensive review on natural convection in various shaped enclosures by FEM: Engineering applications
title_fullStr A comprehensive review on natural convection in various shaped enclosures by FEM: Engineering applications
title_full_unstemmed A comprehensive review on natural convection in various shaped enclosures by FEM: Engineering applications
title_short A comprehensive review on natural convection in various shaped enclosures by FEM: Engineering applications
title_sort comprehensive review on natural convection in various shaped enclosures by fem engineering applications
topic Natural convection
Nanofluid
Hybrid nanofluids
Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD)
Entropy generation
Finite Element Method (FEM)
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1026918525001052
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