Numerical and Experimental Analyses on Root Zone Temperature in Aeroponic Cultivation Box

Abstract

Vegetable growth requires a relatively stable environment for the root zone. If the temperature in root zone environment is optimal, the aeroponic cultivation will be energy-efficient, and the aeroponic vegetables will grow well at high, normal, or low temperature. By computational fluid dynamics (CFD), this paper numerically simulates the root zone temperature of lettuce in the aeroponic cultivation box, after the box was sprayed with nutrient solutions of different temperatures. Then, the root zone environments of aeroponic lettuce were monitored through experiments at three different temperatures: high temperature, normal temperature, and low temperature. Through comparison, it was learned that the error between the simulated and measured values at each point was smaller than 1.35℃; the maximum error at a single point was within 7.4%; overall, the mean relative error was merely 5.8%. The results prove that the proposed CFD simulation model is reasonable and effective. Our research provides a theoretical reference for optimizing the root zone temperature, regulating the spray of nutrient solutions at different temperatures, and building an energy-efficient efficient aeroponic cultivation system.