The Simulation of the Temperature Distribution in the Compost Using the Autodesk CFD Simulation Program

Abstract

The purpose of the work was to determine the temperature course in the composting box intended for the organic recycling of dead poultry depending on the structure-forming material used. Wheat, barley, oat, rapeseed and maize straw were used as the structure-forming material. The condition for obtaining a compost with appropriate sanitary parameters is to achieve an organic temperature exceeding 70 ℃ during the organic recycling process. The simulation of temperature changes in the compost box was carried out using the Autodesk: Inventor and CFD Simulation programs. In Inventor, a geometrical model of a compost box based on an existing prototype was built. The CFD Simulation program analyzed the operation of the system in the field of air flow in a two-phase bed (air-structure-forming material) and temperature distribution in the bed. The program defines the materials from which the composter is made, the boundary and initial conditions of the deposit work were defined. In order to optimize the bed’s operation, multi-variant scenarios with different initial parameters were designed: changing the temperature and structure-forming material as well as the air flow velocity. Section planes on which visualization of air velocity vectors and additional section planes with temperature field distributions have been defined. The obtained results of temperature fields from the multivariate simulation were compared to the actual temperatures in the deposit. The tests involved the use of a measuring system equipped with a probe with a temperature sensor with an accuracy of ±0.15 ℃, a transducer and a data recorder.