Modeling of Air Distribution Inside a Shipping Container Plant Factory Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Abstract

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been used to assess HVAC system performance in plant and animal control facilities in the past few years. Indoor farming is a fully enclosed control environment agriculture structure developed to create an optimum growing environment for the lettuce. Airflow uniformity and temperature distribution were important in indoor farming factories as it is accountable for creating ideal and uniform growing conditions for lettuce. This study was conducted to understand and analyze airflow characteristics and temperature distribution changes in a shipping container plant factory with different inlet and outlet locations. Two alternative designs of the inlet and outlet location are expected to be improved the uniformity of airflow and temperature distribution.