CFD Modeling to Improve the Design of a Fog System for Cooling Greenhouses

Abstract

A CFD model was developed to simulate the air temperature and relative humidity distribution in greenhouses adopting fog-cooling systems using FLUENT. The developed model was validated using the data from a fog-cooling experiment in a single-span greenhouse without plants. The measured and simulated air temperatures varied from 0.1 to 1.4°C and the differences of relative humidity varied 0.3-6.0%. The validated model was then used to evaluate the design of a fog-cooling system in a multi-span glasshouse. The optimal system design was determined in terms of the cooling efficiency and the special uniformity of air temperature and relative humidity. The simulations demonstrated that the best performance of the cooling system occurred when the fog nozzles were located at the height of 2.3 m above the floor and at a distance of 1.9 m from the sidewalls with uniform row-to-row spacing of 3.7 m. The most effective location of the nozzles was within the air entry from the sidewall ventilator inlets of the greenhouse. However, it was important not to wet the sidewalls with the fog. This study suggested that the CFD model developed could be a useful tool to design and evaluate the fog-cooling systems in greenhouses with various configurations.