Numerical simulation of temperature and velocity in a refrigerated warehouse

This paper presents air velocity and temperature distribution in a refrigerated warehouse. The refrigerated space under study has a set of ceiling-type cooling units installed in front of the arrays of stacks of palletized product packages. Numerical solutions of the steady-state airflow and heat transfer were done using a complete three-dimensional model and an equivalent two-dimensional model. The results obtained from both models were found to be in good agreement with each other. A parametric analysis was performed using the equivalent model with various values of blowing air velocity and locations of the cooling units. It was found that a better cooling effectiveness and uniformity of temperature in the refrigerated space could be achieved by using higher blowing air velocity and/or locating the cooling units lower and closer toward the arrays of product packages.