CFD MODELLING AND VALIDATION OF AMBIENT FACTORS IN EVAPORATIVE COLD STORE FOR PEACH STORAGE

Abstract

Spatial variation of temperature and relative humidity were estimated with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) at top, middle and base levels for peach storage at +1oC and 90% relative humidity and verified with measured data in a cold store with evaporative cooling system. Storage temperature was +1oC and relative humidity 90% for peach storage. Ansys Fluent Software was used for CFD modelling. CFD models were validated with sensors measurements. Results were evaluated by using descriptive statistics, relative error and variance analyses. Mean difference between the model and measurements was calculated as 0.51oC for ambient temperature and as 3.47 % for relative humidity. Relative error of the CFD model was calculated as 9.77 for the ambient temperature and 1.29 for relative humidity for peach storage. The developed CFD models estimated the ambient factors with an acceptable error in the evaporative cold store for peach storage.