Numerical and Experimental Study of Fan and Pad Evaporative Cooling System in a Greenhouse with Tomato Crop

An experimental greenhouse equipped with fan and pad evaporative cooling is simulated numerically using a commercial CFD code. The main aspects of evaporative cooling systems, in terms of heat and mass transfer and both the external and internal climatic conditions were integrated to set up the numerical model. The crop (tomato) was simulated using the equivalent porous medium approach by the addition of a momentum and energy source term. Preliminary calculations were carried out and validated by experimental measurements, in order the pressure drop occurred in crop model due to air flow, to be determined as a function of leaf area, stage of crop growth and cultivation technique. The temperature and humidity of incoming air and the operational characteristics of exhaust fans were specified to set up the CFD model. The numerical analysis was based on the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations in conjunction with the RNG k-epsilon turbulence model. The finite-volume method (FVM) was used to solve the governing equations. The 3D full scale model was solved in several differencing schemes of various orders in order to examine its accuracy. The simulation results were validated with experimental measurements obtained at a height level of 1.2 m above the ground in the middle of the crop canopy at 23 and 8 points, concerning air temperature and air humidity respectively. The correlation coefficient between computational results and experimental data was at the order of 0.7419 for air temperature and 0.8082 for air relative humidity. The results showing that the evaporative cooling system for greenhouses could be effectively parameterized in numerical terms, providing a useful tool in order to improve system's efficiency.