Comparison of indoor climate in detached and multi-span greenhouses

Abstract

Paper presented at the 6th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, South Africa, 30 June - 2 July, 2008.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and compare the indoor climate of detached and connected greenhouses. The velocity and temperature distribution inside these greenhouses are numerically analysed using computational fluid dynamics. The initial four span greenhouse was validated in a previous paper [10]. In the first case evaluated, a second greenhouse was placed behind the first greenhouse. Secondly, the first four span greenhouse was extended by adding four additional spans, creating an eight span greenhouse. Lastly, the first case was extended by moving the second greenhouse to the leeward side so as to create a distance of 2m between them. Results showed that by adding an additional four spans, or by attaching four extra spans, the indoor climate inside the greenhouse is influenced to some extent. If the velocity and temperature distributions in the first four and last four spans are compared, a notable difference is found which may influence crop growth.