An assessment of different boundary conditions in a naturally ventilated venlo-type greenhouse

This paper presents a parametric study of the indoor climate of a four span greenhouse subjected to natural ventilation. The effect of different heat fluxes through the greenhouse covering on the airflow patterns as well as temperature and velocity distributions were determined. Appropriate effective heat flux boundary conditions were introduced in the CFD model to investigate temperature and velocity distributions at plant level. Initially, three different simulations were done to represent zero wind speed conditions. Secondly, a velocity of 1m/s was specified at the domain inlet boundary. Results indicated that for all cases, the velocity distribution was heterogeneous and quite high for wind still days around midday. Temperature distributions were more homogeneous, decreased with the presence of a wind. Results indicated that a parametric value of 20% of the maximum daily solar radiation approximates previously simulated wall temperatures. It was also concluded that design changes such as additional openings including side and/or more roof ventilators be utilized to enhance ventilation on wind still days, as well as the warmer parts of the day.