Interaction Between the Turbulent Natural Convection and Surface Radiation Inside a Confined Greenhouse

Abstract

Closed greenhouse systems optimize internal climatic conditions for both reducing energy loss and high-quality yields. Nevertheless, careful monitoring of the parameters of the microclimate requires a better understanding of the thermal phenomena that coexist at the same time inside the greenhouses. In the present study, the surface radiation effect on the natural convection in the greenhouse was investigated numerically based a turbulent unsteady model. The k-ε model was adopted for the turbulent flow and the discrete ordinate (DO) method for the radiation heat transfer. Assuming a no isotherm conditions at the floor and roof faces of the greenhouse and for a Rayleigh number ranges from 0.6×10 10 to 2.3×10 10 . The results showed a strong radiation effect on the thermal behavior near the walls and considerably reduces the flow dynamics within the greenhouse. The contribution of the radiation heat transfer on the total Nusselt number at least 50% greater than that without. The results obtained for the selected values of Rayleigh numbers are in good agreement with the experimental data of the literature.