An investigation of the aerodynamic and ventilation characteristics of poultry transport vehicles .3. Internal flow field calculations

A calculation method for the determination of internal environmental characteristics in a poultry transport vehicle is presented. The calculation uses boundary condition data from the full scale and wind tunnel tests reported in Parts 1 and 2 of this paper. The method is used to predict temperature and humidity in the crates during a typical journey and the results are compared with measurements made at full scale during a journey. Optimization of factors in the calculation is performed and a sensitivity analysis is used to assess the impact of various model parameters. The method is shown to produce realistic estimates of the internal conditions in all the environments that the full scale vehicle encounters. It is not unduly sensitive to the parameters most difficult to determine by full-scale measurements. Having assessed its performance the computer model is now ready to be used as a tool to predict vehicle internal environments for different journeys and to investigate the effects of vehicle modifications. (C) 1996 Silsoe Research Institute.