Numerical Analysis of Ventilation Efficiency of a Korean Venlo-Type Greenhouse with Continuous Roof Vents

A Venlo-type greenhouse with a continuous roof vent (CR-Venlo greenhouse) was proposed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, South Korea (2019) for natural ventilation even during summers. It is ventilated through the buoyancy effect of the heated air using the high eave elevation. However, the CR-Venlo greenhouse was not distributed domestically, and its ventilation efficiency was not quantitatively evaluated. We aimed to analyze the natural ventilation efficiency of the greenhouse according to the eave height, using computational-fluid-dynamics. The simulation model was analyzed for hot summer conditions. The target greenhouse is ventilated only through the roof vent with all roof windows open; therefore, the air introduced through the roof window is easily exhausted. To evaluate the efficiency of ventilation, the external air entering through the roof window was calculated and evaluated. The amount of incoming air varied greatly with the location of the span and average temperature of the greenhouse; The temperature of the crop zone decreased lognormally with increasing height of the eave. Moreover, the ventilation efficiency of CR-Venlo greenhouse could be increased by improving the ventilation structure such as a shape, position or combination of roof window.

Automated summary

This study aimed to analyze the natural ventilation efficiency of the CR-Venlo greenhouse and conducted simulations using computational-fluid-dynamics under summer conditions. The results showed that the ventilation efficiency of the greenhouse could be improved by improving the ventilation structure.