Natural convection primarily driven by the absorption of thermal energy known as penetrative or thermo-convection is a topic that generates attention due to its importance in various physical systems. A very common example of where this process can be found in geophysical systems such as lakes, where radiation induced natural convective transport have been seen to influence water temperature, biological activity and water quality.

The present paper reviews previous analytical, experimental and numerical studies reported in literature concerning natural convection driven by absorption of thermal radiation. Many of the reviewed studies were motivated by the interest of investigators to understand the physical processes in volumetric absorption thermal radiation in a fluid layer process and its associated energy transport.

In this class of problems, temperature fields are generally described as non-linear and the associated fluid flow is considered rather complex owing to coupling between the direct absorption of radiation and fluid flow. Parametric investigations for the effect of various parameters of interest such as the Rayleigh numbers, Prandtl numbers, spectral nature of incident radiative flux, optical depth, fluid absorptivity, aspect ratio, albedo and boundary emissivity on natural convection have been investigated.

The overall aim of the current review is to present a comprehensive review of the previous and recent approaches applied in the investigations of radiation induced natural convection in reservoirs. The paper also aims to contribute to improving the understanding of the physical processes, heat transfer and fluid dynamics associated with the thermal energy deposition into a fluid layer. The paper is also highlight the potential application of this concept to help keep solar energy capture costs to a minimum and inform efficient designs of energy systems based on the concept of direct absorption of thermal energy inside a fluid layer.

自然对流主要是由热能的吸收驱动的，称为穿透式或热对流，由于其在各种物理系统中的重要性而引起人们的关注。在湖泊等地球物理系统中发现该过程的一个非常普遍的例子，在该系统中，辐射诱发的自然对流传输已影响水温，生物活性和水质。

本文综述了以前文献中有关热辐射吸收驱动的自然对流的分析，实验和数值研究。许多综述性研究是出于研究人员的兴趣，他们希望了解流体层过程中体积吸收热辐射的物理过程及其相关的能量传输。

在这类问题中，温度场通常被描述为非线性的，并且由于辐射的直接吸收与流体流之间的耦合，相关的流体流被认为是相当复杂的。对各种感兴趣的参数（例如瑞利数，普朗特数，入射辐射通量的光谱性质，光学深度，流体吸收率，纵横比，反照率和边界发射率）对自然对流的影响进行了参数研究。

本篇综述的总体目标是对水库中由辐射引起的自然对流研究中所采用的以前和最近的方法进行全面的综述。本文还旨在促进对与热能沉积到流体层中相关的物理过程，传热和流体动力学的理解。本文还重点介绍了此概念的潜在应用，以帮助将太阳能捕获成本保持在最低水平，并基于直接吸收流体层内部热能的概念，为能源系统的高效设计提供依据。