Analysing Poultry Barn's Energy Requirement and Temperature Distribution Using Numerical Methods

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Authors

Aly, Mohamed

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Publisher

University of Guelph

Abstract

Given the current growing interest in poultry production in Canada, a focus was developed towards providing the optimal thermal comfort and air quality for poultry production facilities. A geothermal heat pump (GHP) system was proposed to allow for a consistent source of heating (winter) and partial cooling (summer) regardless of the ventilation requirement of the facility. The thesis focuses on analysing a poultry barn through developing and performing a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) study for a barn in Woodstock, Ontario. The CFD model was used to analyze the air distribution and velocity within the facility ensuring the birds are within their thermal comfort zone. The CFD simulations showed that, generally, the poultry within the facility are within the thermal comfort temperature range (20˚C-23˚C). However, the air velocity profiles were out of the chicken’s thermal comfort range (1.5 ms-1 – 2 ms-1) due to lower ventilation in the winter, and higher ventilation in the summer seasons. Integrating a GHP system would allow for more heating and higher ventilation rates during the winter as well as cooling and lower ventilation rates in the summer, ensuring the poultry are within the recommended thermal comfort ranges.

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Keywords

Poultry, CFD, Agriculture, Turbulence, broiler

Citation