Analysis of Inlet Configurations on the Microclimate Conditions of a Novel Standalone Agricultural Greenhouse for Egypt Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

Abstract

Water shortage, human population increase, and lack of food resources have directed societies towards sustainable energy and water resources, especially for agriculture. While open agriculture requires a massive amount of water and energy, the requirements of horticultural systems can be controlled to provide standard conditions for the plants to grow, with significant decrease in water consumption. A greenhouse is a transparent indoor environment used for horticulture, as it allows for reasonable control of the microclimate conditions (e.g., temperature, air velocity, rate of ventilation, and humidity). While such systems create a controlled environment for the plants, the greenhouses need ventilation to provide fresh air. In order to have a sustainable venting mechanism, a novel solution has been proposed in this study providing a naturally ventilating system required for the plants, while at the same time reducing the energy requirements for cooling or other forced ventilation techniques. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to analyse the ventilation requirements for different vent opening scenarios, showing the importance of inlet locations for the proposed sustainable greenhouse system.