Computational fluid dynamics analysis of ventilation characteristics with various design parameters in single-span greenhouses

Abstract

ABSTRACT With the advent of the fourth industrial revolution, smart farming technology is being introduced that can properly maintain the growing environment of crops remotely and automatically by grafting information and communication technology (ICT) to greenhouses. To maintain an appropriate growth environment for these crops, the effects of the greenhouse design parameters on these environments need to be evaluated. In this study, the thermal and flow characteristics in the single-span greenhouse were examined with commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. To validate the numerical method applied herein, the numerical results of the temperature distribution at several monitoring points were compared with the experimental results. The low-average error rate (0.87–1.90%) between them was measured and the numerical results of the temperature distribution exhibited good agreement with the experimental data. In addition, a parametric study was conducted to determine the effects of the various design parameters on the ventilation performance. These study findings will offer appropriate data for design guidelines for greenhouses.