Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 162 (2019) 337–347

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Computers and Electronics in Agriculture

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compag

Original papers

Nonlinear simulation for coupling modeling of air humidity and vent T

opening in Chinese solar greenhouse based on CFD
⁎
Guoxiang Zhanga, Zetian Fua,b, Mingsong Yangc, Xingxing Liua, Yuhong Donga, Xinxing Lia,b,
a
China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, PR China
b
Beijing Laboratory of Food Quality and Safety, Beijing 100083, PR China
c
Station for the Forest Resources Monitoring and Management in Yantai, Shandong 264000, PR China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The Chinese solar greenhouse (CSG) ensures farming activities to continue and allow the harvest timing to be
Air humidity manipulated and become an important part of Chinese agricultural facilities. Effective control of the solar
Vent opening greenhouse environment is critical for the well-being of crops and is important for the entire Eco-agricultural
CFD simulation System. The rapid exchange of energy and materials in the CSG with the external environment are achieved
Ventilation
through the natural ventilation of the upper vent and the lower vent. However, there is lack of relevant research
that addresses the vent opening. In this study, the effect that the vent opening has on the CSG was studied
through Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation. The ventilation of a real solar greenhouse was si-
mulated by establishing a 3D simulation model of the solar greenhouse with various vent openings. The main
focus was the relationship between the vent opening and the air humidity changes in the CSG. This study
presents a coupling between an energy balance model and a CFD model to study relationships between venti-
lation and humidity in a CSG. The simulation results demonstrated that natural ventilation increased along with
the increasing of vent openings, which caused to a drop of air humidity and temperature in the solar greenhouse.
This reduction was not a linear change in the traditional cognitive paradigm, but showed nonlinear changes
through the simulation results. The requirements for the verification of simulation results were used to conduct a
scale model to verify the results of the CFD experiments. The practical value and the significance of the research
aims to provide basic reference for controlling the indoor air temperature and the air humidity by the natural
ventilation of vents. The outcome could result in a reduction in energy consumption and GHG emissions in the
greenhouse operations, which contributed to the improvement of resource efficiency and a cleaner production.
These results have strong practical significance for the follow-up automation and intelligent control of CSG
environments.

1. Introduction
Chinese solar greenhouses (CSGs) have gained popularity in
Northeast China and North China since the 1990s (Wei et al., 2012).
They enable farming activities to continue and allow the harvest timing
to be manipulated and has become an important part of Chinese agri-
cultural facilities (Tong et al., 2013; Zhang et al., 2017a). The area
covered by Chinese greenhouses in 2012 (including multi-greenhouses,
CSG, plastic houses) was 3.79 million ha and solar greenhouses covered
an area of 928,000 ha, comprising 24.5% of the total greenhouse area
(Yuan et al., 2013).
The effective control of the solar greenhouse environment is critical
for the well-being of crops and is important for the entire Eco-agri-
cultural System (Ding et al., 2018). The rapid exchange of energy and
materials in a CSG (such as heat, water vapor, and CO2) with the ex-
ternal environment are achieved through the natural ventilation of the
upper vent and the lower vent (Bartzanas et al., 2013; He et al., 2018).
The efficiency of natural ventilation in a traditional CSG is controlled
by the vent opening, without external electricity or fuel (Roy et al.,
2002; Yano et al., 2007). Natural ventilation is divided into wind
pressure driven ventilation and stack ventilation, according to dynamic
differences (Arendt et al., 2017). Wind pressure ventilation is caused by
wind pressure, while stack ventilation is caused by thermal pressure.
This pressure is created by the different temperatures inside and outside
of the solar greenhouse. The natural ventilation of CSG combines the
two in a way that could effectively reduce indoor crop diseases, while
increasing the crop yield and quality (Sase et al., 2006; Ishii et al.,
2014). Adjusting the vent opening significantly impacts the production

⁎
Corresponding author at: China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, PR China.
E-mail address: lxxcau@cau.edu.cn (X. Li).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2019.04.024
Received 26 January 2018; Received in revised form 14 April 2019; Accepted 17 April 2019
0168-1699/ © 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V.
G. Zhang, et al. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 162 (2019) 337–347

Nomenclature c center angle degree corresponding to the vent opening

b1 effective width of the upper vent, m
L natural ventilation volume of solar greenhouse, m3 s−1 F1 effective area of the upper vent in solar greenhouse model,
LW ventilation volume caused by wind pressure, m3 s−1 m2
LT ventilation volume caused by thermal pressure, m3 s−1 b2 effective width of the lower vent, m
g gravitational acceleration, m s−2 F2 effective area of the lower vent in solar greenhouse model,
ΔH height difference between the upper vent and the lower m2
vent, m u flow coefficient of the lower vent (install insect net)
Ti indoor temperature, K uo flow coefficient of the lower vent (uninstalled insect net)
To outdoor temperature, K ζn ventilation resistance coefficient of the insect net
uj flow coefficient of the air inlet F area of the lower vent, m2
Fj effective area of the air inlet, m2 Fn area of the insect net, m2
up flow coefficient of the air outlet. I turbulence intensity
Fp effective area of the air outlet, m2 Re Reynolds number
fu coefficient of the ventilation volume caused by thermal ρ fluid density, kg m−3
pressure v fluid Velocity, m s−1
vo outdoor wind speed, m s−1 μ viscosity coefficient, kg m−1 s−1
Cj wind pressure coefficient of the air inlet d characteristic length (effective width of the vent), m
Cp wind pressure coefficient of the air outlet ν2 flow velocity of the air inlet, m s−1
RH air relative humidity, % I2 turbulence intensity of the air inlet
C1 mass of the indoor water vapor in per unit volume of air, φ(B) volume fraction of the water vapor, %
kg m−3 V volume of the water vapor, m3
C2 saturated mass of the indoor water vapor in per unit vo- V0 unit volume, m3
lume of air, kg m−3 m mass of the water vapor, kg
ΦL mass flow of water vapor caused by natural ventilation, ρ1 density of the water vapor, kg m−3
kg s−1 CB saturated concentration of the water vapor, kg m−3
C3 mass of outdoor water vapor per unit volume of air, P environmental pressure, Pa
kg m−3 M molar mass of water, kg mol−1
t ventilation time, s R universal gas constant, J mol−1·K−1
Va inner space volume of the solar greenhouse, m3 T environmental temperature, K
K percentage that the vent was opened, %

efficiency of solar greenhouses, reduced energy consumption, and re-
duced Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions during greenhouse operations
(Ma et al., 2019).
The environment systems of the CSG are time-variation and multi-
variable coupling. There are doubts about the impact that the open size
of the vent has on air humidity in the solar greenhouse. There is lack of
relevant research that addresses the vent opening. It is common that an
operator would not understand how to control the vent opening, which
results in the opening either being shut completely or open completely.
Air humidity is generally considered a linear change when ventilation
facilities are used to control air humidity in CSG (Liu et al., 2015; Kong
and Su, 2015). It is a static mode that is researched for controlling the
ventilation facilities, which results in large fluctuations on air humidity
(Hu et al., 2011).
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) could offer an effective means
of accurately quantifying the indoor climatic variables of ventilated
buildings under various design conditions within a virtual environment
(Norton et al., 2007). The CFD method is used to provide the simulation
results for the actual agriculture application. For example, the CFD
method was used to simulate natural ventilation for agricultural
buildings and improve crop production systems (Hong et al., 2017;
Bartzanas et al., 2013). By using the CFD models, air circulation and
microclimate distributions can explore the detailed convective heat
transfer (Majdoubi et al., 2009; Bournet and Boulard, 2010). The CFD
simulation and evaluation models could be applied to enhance the in-
door temperature environment and to optimize the thickness of the
north wall in CSG (Tong et al., 2009; Zhang et al., 2016a). Thermal and
water vapor transfer are influenced by the openings of greenhouses in
the CFD simulation (Piscia et al., 2015). The CFD model was developed
to predict the distribution of temperature, water vapor, and CO2 oc-
curring in a Venlo-type semi-closed glass greenhouse equipped with air
conditioners (Boulard et al., 2017).
In this study, the relationship between vent openings and air hu-
midity in the CSG was analyzed by using nonlinear simulation for
coupling modeling based on the CFD method. The CFD simulation re-
sults were verified by a scale model test and discussion. This provides a
basis for theoretical references to enable automated production in solar
greenhouse and has significance for practical operations.
2. Materials and methods
Through the basic fluid theory analysis, the preliminary model and
results were obtained via some existing parameters, and then the model
and the parameters were used as inputs for the CFD model. The pre-
liminary model and results were verified by the CFD simulation method
(Zhang et al., 2012). The CFD simulation results were verified by actual
tests to ensure the credibility and existing parameters were efficiently
optimized. This method is common throughout CFD simulation tech-
nology in the control of the solar greenhouse environmental and is
commonly considered possible (Tamimi et al., 2013; Zhang et al.,
2017b).
This section describes the entire process and specific steps of the
simulation test. By setting the specific parameters of the simulation
model, the simulation results could be confirmed. The specific para-
meters of the greenhouse model includes the model sizes, initial con-
ditions of the air temperature, and humidity. The specific parameters of
vents included the type of vents, the flow coefficient, the flow velocity,
and the turbulence intensity. The simulation results will be used to
compare to the theoretical data.
2.1. Existing theoretical for the natural ventilation of CSG
The natural ventilation of the various vent openings and changes of
indoor air humidity were obtained by calculations based on existing

338
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theoretical research. The CSG has two vents covered with plastic films
in order to achieve natural ventilation and to reduce indoor tempera-
ture and indoor humidity. The lower vent generally acts as the air inlet
and the upper vent acts as the air outlet (Fu and You, 2013), as shown
in Fig. 1.
The current design code for the greenhouse ventilation in China and
were used to formulate the natural ventilation that was required (Ma
et al., 2008):
L= LW2 + LT2
where L is the natural ventilation volume of solar greenhouse (m3 s−1),
LW is the ventilation volume caused by wind pressure (m3 s−1), and LT
is the ventilation volume caused by thermal pressure (m3 s−1).
(1) Assume the indoor and the outdoor air temperatures distribution
could be uniform, but different. The formula for calculating the
natural ventilation volume caused by thermal pressure was ob-
tained according to the reference theory:
2gΔH (Ti − To )
LT = fu
Ti
where
1
fu =
1 1
uj2 F j2
+ calculating the air relative humidity in solar greenhouse was as follows:
up2 Fp2
−2
where g is the gravitational acceleration (m s ). ΔH is the height
difference between the upper vent and the lower vent (m). Ti is the
indoor temperature (K). To is the outdoor temperature (K). uj is the flow
coefficient of the air inlet. Fj is the effective area of the air inlet (m2). up
is the flow coefficient of the air outlet. Fp is the effective area of the air
outlet (m2), and fu is the coefficient of the ventilation volume caused by
thermal pressure.
The values of uj and up are dependent on the vent’s form and
Fig. 1. Photos of the Chinese solar greenhouse and a ventilation structure diagram.
Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 162 (2019) 337–347
frictional resistance. In this paper, they were fixed at a specific value.
The effective area of the air inlet and the air outlet that was connected
to the vent opening was the point of interest for this paper.
(2) The formula to calculate the natural ventilation volume caused by
the wind pressure was obtained with:
LW = fu vo Cj − Cp (4)
where vo is the outdoor wind speed (m s−1). Cj is the wind pressure
(1)
coefficient of the air inlet. Cp is the wind pressure coefficient of the air
outlet. The specific wind pressure coefficient was dependent on the
shape of the solar greenhouse and the position of the vents (Hou et al.,
2007a).
The calculated ventilation is constant, as shown in the formulas. It is
easy to assist operators in setting the related parameters of the CSG, but
it is often not possible to achieve more precise control of the environ-
ment (Ma et al., 2008; Meng et al., 2009).
2.2. Assumptions
(2) The outdoor air humidity distribution was assumed to be uniformly
separated. The setting parameters in the CFD software was used to as-
sume that the temperature and the humidity distribution in the interior
space of the solar greenhouse model were uniform. The formula for
(3)
C1
RH (%) = × 100%
C2 (5)
where RH is the air relative humidity. C1 is the mass of the indoor water
vapor in per unit volume of air (kg m−3). C2 is the saturated mass of the
indoor water vapor in per unit volume of air (kg m−3).
The formula for mass flow balance differential equation of indoor
water vapor is obtained through variations of the indoor water vapor in
solar greenhouses:
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dC1 Φ L (C1 − C3)
= L =
dt Va Va (6)
where ΦL is the mass flow of water vapor caused by natural ventilation
(kg s−1). C3 is the mass of outdoor water vapor per unit volume of air
(kg m−3). t is the ventilation time (s). Va is the inner space volume of
the solar greenhouse (m3). The mass of the indoor water vapor in per
unit volume of air (C1) was greater than the mass of outdoor water
vapor per unit volume of air (C3), and saturated mass of the indoor
water vapor in per unit volume of air C2 was greater than C1. The de-
fault values of C1, C2, and C3 met the requirements: C2 > C1 > C3.
The settings for the air humidity were based on the actual produc-
tion. The two vents achieved natural ventilation that met the require-
ments for reducing the indoor humidity, so it was reasonable to assume
that the indoor air humidity was high, and the outdoor air humidity
was low. The results for the air humidity were obtained via the
greenhouse ventilation formulas.
There was a causal relationship between the natural ventilation
(stack ventilation) and the thermal pressure caused by the temperature
difference inside and outside of the solar greenhouse. Thermal pressure
was an important driving factor for natural ventilation. Intense natural
ventilation will relieve thermal pressure, causing the indoor air tem-
perature to decrease. The concentration of indoor vapor after the CFD
ventilation test slowed. The research will demonstrate the hypothesis
through theoretical analysis and verification testing via CFD software.
The scale model experiment was used to verify the CFD simulation
results.
2.3. Graphic simplification of solar greenhouse
The Liaoshen-IV solar greenhouse is a common type of greenhouse
used in China’s northern areas (Wei et al., 2012). This provided basic
building structure information of a CSG. The front roof (lighting sur-
face) is a key component of the solar greenhouse, which was designed
to have an obvious arc to ensure sufficient lighting. The upper and
lower vents on the front roof control the natural ventilation of CSG. In
the study, the front roof was simplified to a circular arc and the con-
struction of the solar greenhouse was reduced to a simple geometric
model, as shown in Fig. 2.
2.4. Analyses of the computational parameter for vents
the flow coefficient of the lower vent as follows:
uo
u≈
1 + ζ n (F / Fn )2 (8)
where u is the flow coefficient of the lower vent (install insect net). uo is
the flow coefficient of the lower vent (uninstalled insect net). ζn is the
ventilation resistance coefficient of the insect net (the constant ranging
from 1.8 to 4.0). The value was 3.00 in the study, which accounted for
the effect of dust (Hou et al., 2007b; Sase et al., 2006). F is the area of
the lower vent (m2). Fn is the area of the insect net (m2).
This study assumed that the air inlet was fully installed with the
insect nets (F = Fn). The flow coefficient of the air inlet was 0.3285 and
the flow coefficient of the air outlet was 0.508. The indoor temperature
(Ti) of the solar greenhouse was 35 °C (308 K). The outdoor temperature
(Ti) was 25 °C (298 K). The data in Table 1 (F1 = Fp, F2 = Fj) and
parameters in the above (Ti, Ti, uj and up) were brought into Eqs. (3),
(2), and (1). The theoretical natural ventilation of the different vent
openings were obtained, as shown in Table 2 (Gong et al., 2010).
The turbulent intensity of the air inlet was calculated:
1
I = 0.16 × Re− 8 (9)
where I is the turbulence intensity and Re is the Reynolds number,
which is an important dimensionless quantity in fluid mechanics used
to help predict flow patterns in different fluid flow situations. The
Reynolds number was calculated as follows:
ρvd
Re =
μ (10)
−3
where ρ is the fluid density with a value of 1.185 kg m (air density
with 25 °C). v is the fluid velocity (m s−1). μ is the viscosity coefficient
with a value of 1.84 × 10−5 kg m−1 s−1. d is the characteristic length
(m), which was the effective width of the vent. The fluid velocity was
calculated as follows:
L
v=
F (11)
The calculation revealed that the Reynolds number of the two vents
corresponded to different vent openings with frequencies greater than
10,000. The inner gas of solar greenhouse was considered an in-
compressible ideal gas. The parameters of the air inlets that corre-
sponded to different vent openings were calculated, as shown in

The lower vent was typically closer to the crops than the upper vent.
The operator usually opened the upper vent rather than the lower vent,
in order to reduce inner wind speed and to protect the crops from cold
5m

wind, as shown in Fig. 3.

3.9 m
3.5 m

The center angle corresponding with the max opening of the upper
vent and the lower vent were set to 5°, with a shed length of 60 m. The
inner space volume of the solar greenhouse (Va) was 2593.85 m3. The 0.6 m 0.1 m
areas of the two vents in this paper was accurate. The paper chose five 2m
vent openings (20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100%) for the measuring 12 m
Simplify
position. In the study, 100% meant that the surface was completely
open and 0% meant that the surface was completely closed. The specific
structural parameter of the two vents were calculated, as shown in
5m

Table 1.
3.5 m

In Table 1, K was the percentage that the vent was opened (%). c
was the center angle degree corresponding to the vent opening. b1 was
the effective width of the upper vent (m). F1 was the effective area of 2m
12 m
the upper vent (m2). b2 was the effective width of the lower vent (m). F2
was the effective area of the lower vent (m2). ΔH was the height dif-
ference between the upper vent and the lower vent.
The flow coefficient of the lower vent was set to 0.657 and the flow R=12.5 m
coefficient of upper vent was set to 0.508 (Gong et al., 2010). These
were set in accordance to the form and the position of the vents in the
solar greenhouse. The lower vents had an insect net to prevent the crops
from being compromised by insects or contaminates. This influenced Fig. 2. Graphic simplification of the Liaoshen Ⅳ solar greenhouse.

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Fig. 3. Upper vent and lower vent in a CSG.

Table 1 of the water vapor (kg). ρ1 is the density of the water vapor (kg m−3).
Specific structural parameter of the two vents. CB is the saturated concentration of the water vapor (kg m−3). RH is the
K (%) c b1 (m) and F1 (m2) b2 (m) and F2 (m2) ΔH (m)
relative humidity (%). P is the environmental pressure with a value of
1.0 × 105 Pa. M is the molar mass of water with a value of
20% 1° b1 = 0.218, F1 = 13.08 b2 = 0.173, F2 = 10.38 4.911 1.8 × 10−2 kg mol−1. R is the universal gas constant with a value of
40% 2° b1 = 0.436, F1 = 26.16 b2 = 0.344, F2 = 20.64 4.820 8.314 J mol−1·K−1. T is the environmental temperature (K).
60% 3° b1 = 0.654, F1 = 39.24 b2 = 0.513, F2 = 30.78 4.726
The calculated results showed that the volume fraction of indoor
80% 4° b1 = 0.872, F1 = 52.32 b2 = 0.679, F2 = 40.74 4.630
100% 5° b1 = 1.089, F1 = 65.34 b2 = 0.843, F2 = 50.58 4.531 water vapor was 2.505%, the indoor air was 97.495%, the outdoor
water vapor was 0.502%, and outdoor air was 99.498%. The ventilation
test ran for 1 min (60 s). Due to the short ventilation test, the influences
Table 2 that the plant transpiration and the soil evaporation had on the indoor
Natural ventilation data corresponding to the vent opening. water vapor concentration and the air temperature was ignored.
K 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Theoretical changes in the indoor air humidity in relation to the various
vent openings were calculated, as shown in Table 4.
3 −1
L (m ·s ) 5.364 10.578 15.640 20.517 25.230
2.5. CFD method and simulation test

Table 3
CFD is commonly used to simulate the internal environmental
Parameters of the air inlet in relation to the various vent openings.
changes of solar greenhouses. This paper established a sample natural
K 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% ventilation simulation model, where the thermal pressure was the only
driving force. The influence that natural ventilation had on the tem-
ν2 0.5168 0.5125 0.5081 0.5136 0.4988
I2 0.01948 0.01789 0.01704 0.01647 0.01605 perature and the humidity of solar greenhouse was studied base on the
CFD model.

Table 3. 2.5.1. Computational domain and mesh generation

In Table 3 we see that ν2 is the flow velocity of the air inlet (m s−1). A three-dimensional simulation model was conducted to simulate
I2 is the turbulence intensity of the air inlet. The indoor temperature the natural ventilation of the solar greenhouse in relation to the various
(Ti) of the solar greenhouse was 35 °C (308 K). The outdoor temperature vent openings with ANSYS 16.0& commercial CFD software. The
(To) was 25 °C (298 K). The saturated concentration of water vapor in structure shape of two vents were minor modified with effective areas.
the air was 23.04 g/m3at 25 °C and 39.60 g/m3 at 35 °C. In the study, The dimensions of the Liaoshen-IV solar greenhouse is explained in
the indoor initial relative humidity was set to 90% and the outdoor Section 2.3, and the internal space of the solar greenhouse in the si-
relative humidity was 30%. According to the relative humidity para- mulation was the computational domain. The Tetrahedron grid model
meter, the volume fraction of water vapor and air were calculated as: was chosen based on previous research. As a basic model of the ANSYS
V m / ρ1 C × RH × V0 system, the Tetrahedron grid model was applied to the grid division of
φ(B) = × 100% = × 100% = B × 100% the solar greenhouses (Zhang et al., 2016a; Wang et al., 2016). The
V0 V0 V0 × ρ1
simulation test used Tetrahedrons models to obtain the mesh with an
C × RH × P × M
= B × 100% Element Size of 0.5 m. The mesh result is shown in Fig. 4.
R×T (12)
The parameters, including the Jacobian Ratio, the Aspect Ratio, and
where φ(B) is the volume fraction of the water vapor (%). V is the vo- the Skewness were chosen to assess the grid quality. According to the
lume of the water vapor (m3). V0 is the unit volume (m3). m is the mass mesh results in Fig. 4, the Jacobian Ratio of most grids was 1 (the larger

Table 4
Theoretical changes of indoor air humidity in relation to the various vent openings.
K 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Outdoor water vapor concentration (g/m3) 9.216 9.216 9.216 9.216 9.216 9.216
indoor water vapor concentration after ventilation (g/m3) 35.6400 32.0755 28.6106 25.2468 22.0059 18.8740
indoor initial water vapor concentration (g/m3) 35.64 35.64 35.64 35.64 35.64 35.64

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Fig. 4. Mesh result of the ventilated model with 100% vent opening.

the value, the more distorted the grid cells, 1 was the best value). The simulation ran for 1 min (60 s). The internal air humidity cloud of the
maximum value of the Skewness was 0.8, with more than 90% of the solar greenhouse model in relation to the various vent openings were
grids being less than 0.5. The Skewness was the parameter used to obtained.
evaluate the mesh quality. When the value was smaller, the mesh
quality performance was better. The value of the Skewness could not be
higher than 0.95 for quality control (Dana et al., 2014). The Aspect 2.5.3. Selection of characteristic plane
Ratio of most grids was less than 3, the maximum value of Aspect Ratio The internal air humidity cloud of the solar greenhouse model with
was 10 (the ratio of the longest edge to the shortest edge of the grid cell, the 100% vent opening was obtained by the simulation, as shown in
where a warning appeared when the value was too high). The model Fig. 5.
was fully constructed with 1.8 × 105 grids, did not appear to have the There was a hierarchy of the overall air humidity distribution in the
“negative grid” error, and met the requirements of the FLUENT simu- solar greenhouse, see Fig. 5. The plane distribution the figures depicting
lation test (Ai and Mak, 2014). The mesh quality results showed that the Z-axis direction and the Y-axis (Z = 15 m, Z = 30 m, Y = 1 m, and
the meshing quality was better and the obtained simulation results were Y = 1.5 m) were compared using the characteristic plane, as shown in
more reliable. Fig. 6.
The plane distribution figures of the Y-axis differed greatly, see
Fig. 6. The plane distribution figures from the Z-axis remained similar.
2.5.2. Boundary condition
The plane distribution figures of the Z-axis was set as the characteristic
The research required transient parameters after ventilation, thus
plane to reflect the changes of air humidity in the solar greenhouse
the model transient model was applied. The model started energy for
(Zhang et al., 2017b). The plane Z = 30 m was located in the middle of
the change of thermal environment, the Realizable k-ε model was ap-
the solar greenhouse model, making it ideal for the characteristic plane.
plied to achieve ventilation, and the multiphase-mixture model was
applied (the specific model to obtain a mixture of two or more gases).
The mixed phases were defined in two parts: air and vapor. Air was
3. Results and discussion
defined as the first phase and the vapor was defined as the second phase
in materials-fluid. See calculated results in Sections 2.2 and 2.3 for the
The results of the CFD simulation tests were obtained and the re-
preset environmental parameters (Su et al., 2016). Boundary conditions
liability of the simulation results was verified by the scale model ex-
were obtained, as shown in Table 5.
periment.
Other surfaces of the solar greenhouse model were defined as walls.
The temperature of the inner mixed phases was 35 °C (308 K). The

Table 5
Boundary conditions of the solar greenhouse model.
Vent Name Boundary Name Type Velocity (m/s) Turbulent Intensity Turbulent Viscosity Ratio Temperature

Lower vent Inlet Velocity-inlet ν2 in Table 3 I2 in Table 3 5 25 °C (298 K)

Upper vent Outlet Pressure-outlet Standard atmosphere (Gauge pressure = 0 Pascal) 5 25 °C (298 K)

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G. Zhang, et al.
Fig. 5. Internal air humidity cloud of the solar greenhouse model with the
100% vent opening.
Fig. 6. The plane distribution figures of the volume fraction of the vapor
formed from the Z axis and the Y axis.
3.1. Simulation results
The results from the simulation environment showed the vapor
distribution figures from the Z = 30 m plane as it related to the various
vent openings, as shown in Fig. 7.
After the plane Z = 30 m was meshed, the position and the corre-
sponding temperature on each grid were represented by a two-dimen-
sional point cloud. The vapor distribution was shown in the XY-plot
figure in order to gain a better understanding of the air humidity data,
as shown in Fig. 8.
The data was exported in plot figures from the XML reports. The
information contained in the point cloud were output as data files, and
the data was subjected to statistics and processing (average) to obtain
the data in Table 6. The average values of the vapor distribution on the
characteristic plane were calculated. This was termed as the average
value of vapor distribution in the solar greenhouse model. The average
air temperature in the solar greenhouse model was obtained, as shown
in Table 6.
There comparison results of the CFD simulation and the theoretical
calculation are shown in Fig. 9.
The simulation results demonstrated that natural ventilation in-
creased along with the increasing of vent openings, which caused to a
drop of air humidity and temperature in the solar greenhouse. This
reduction was not a linear change in the traditional cognitive paradigm,
but showed nonlinear changes through the simulation results. When the
vent openings were the same, the decline of vapor concentration after
the CFD ventilation test was lower than the theoretical value, see Fig. 9.
The decline rate of the theoretical concentration of indoor vapor after
the ventilation remained nearly unchanged. When the vent opening was
20%, the actual decline was 0.97% less than the theoretical value. This
rate increased as the vent opened more. When the vent opening reached
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Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 162 (2019) 337–347
100%, the actual decline was 23.31% less than the theoretical value.
3.2. Scale model experiment
Through the basic fluid theory analysis, the preliminary model and
results were obtained by some existing parameters, and then the model
and parameters served as an input for the CFD model. The preliminary
model and results were verified by the CFD simulation method (Zhang
et al., 2012). The CFD simulation results were verified by simple actual
tests for its credibility and existing parameters so the model was effi-
ciently optimized. This method is common within CFD simulation
technology in the control of the solar greenhouse environmental and is
commonly considered feasible.
This study presents a coupling between an energy balance model
and a CFD model to study relationships between ventilation and hu-
midity in a CSG. The requirements for the verification of simulation
results were used to conduct a scale model to verify the results of the
CFD experiments.
3.2.1. Experiment devices
The scale model was designed using AutoCAD (drawing software)
and PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) boards were produced on a cutting ma-
chine. The scale version of the solar greenhouse had a scale of 40:1. The
scale model had a maximum height of 150 mm and a width of 315 mm.
The length was 430 mm, but had no influence on the experiment, since
the temperature and the humidity distribution in the interior space of
the solar greenhouse model were assumed to be uniform. The main
body of the scale model consisted of PVC boards (the thickness was
15 mm) (Zhang et al., 2016b).
The scale model was placed in the incubator with a humidifier to
increase the relative humidity of the air inside the model and the real-
time display equipment to monitor the changes of general temperature
and humidity in the internal environment. Six sensors were placed in
the scale model to accurately monitor the temperature and the hu-
midity changes during the test. The sensors were BME280 (range:
−40 °C∼ + 85 °C, accuracy: ± 0.5 °C, connected to a control board
(Arduino-UNO). The control board had a data storage module (Micro
SD) to store the temperature and humidity data during the test. The
control board used a 5 V direct-current power supply. The scale model
experimental devices are shown in Fig. 10.
The vents in the top and bottom of the scale model were opened
with the same vent opening in the experiments, similar to the CFD si-
mulation model. The specific structural parameter of the two vents
were calculated, as seen in table 7.
This paper studies the CSG air temperature and air humidity
changes in an ideal and most demanding situation. Under such situa-
tions, the main driving force for the process of reducing the air tem-
perature and humidity of the solar greenhouse was the thermal pressure
created by the different temperatures inside and outside of the solar
greenhouse, as shown in Sections 2.1 and 2.2. The theory of CFD
Fig. 7. The vapor distribution figures of the plane Z = 30 m as they related to
the other vent openings.
G. Zhang, et al.
Fig. 8. Plot figure of the air humidity distribution on plane Z = 30 m when the
vent opening was 100%.
reflected the sample regularity of the process by the model verification
based on the sound scale model theoretical analysis.
The experiment was performed in two stages. The scale model with
different vent openings was placed in an incubator at 35 °C during the
first stage. The humidifier was turned on to increase the relative hu-
midity of the air inside the scale model. The fan was turned on to in-
crease the air circulation and to maintain the uniformity of air humidity
and temperature inside the scale model. When the relative humidity of
the air inside the scale model reached 80% and the air temperature
reach 35 °C, the scale model was moved into a second incubator at 25 °C
(air temperature), and 20% (relative humidity of the air) during the
second stage.
The scale model and the simulation model were exactly the same in
temperature setting, but there is a small difference in the humidity
setting. The initial air relative humidity inside the greenhouse of the
simulation model was set to 90% and the external setting was 30%. The
external relative humidity was 20% in the experiment of scale model, so
to ensure the same humidity difference, the initial air relative humidity
inside the scale model was set to 80%. The purpose of experiment was
to verify the general changes in the overall humidity and temperature
of the solar greenhouse, so the difference of initial air relative humidity
did not have a serious impact on the research results.
The fan of the second incubator was turn off and the control boards
were energized. The temperature and humidity change data was col-
lected by sensors and stored in Micro SD cards. The test time was the
same as the simulation test for 1 min, where the device was powered
off, and the data in the Micro SD cards was processed and analyzed on a
PC.
3.2.2. Model experimental results
In order to monitor the temperature and humidity distribution in-
side the model, six sensors (BME280) at different positions inside the
scale model were numbered. The internal air relative humidity and
temperature in the scale model with the 40% vent opening was re-
corded during the experiment, as shown in Fig. 11.
The comparisons in Figs. 11 and 7 show that there were large si-
milarities between the relative air humidity distribution experimental
results and the simulation results (Relative air humidity:number 3/
4 > number 2/5 > number 1/6), which further increased the cred-
ibility of the research conclusions.
The result data of the six sensors were counted. The internal average
relative air humidity and air temperature inside the scale model at
different vent openings were obtained by calculations. The results are
Table 6
Indoor air humidity and air temperature corresponding to various vent openings after the simulated ventilation.
K 0% 20%
Volume fraction of indoor vapor 0.02505 0.02286
Indoor average air temperature (K) 308.00 306.74
Concentration of indoor vapor (g/m3) 35.6400 32.3880
344
Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 162 (2019) 337–347
shown in Fig. 12.
The coordinates in Fig. 12 was set to be the same as seen Fig. 9 to
compare the experimental results and the simulation results. When the
scale model was completely closed (K = 0%), the air temperature inside
scale model dropped because of lack of heat preservation, and de-
monstrated a slow decline as the vent opening increased. The decline of
relative humidity in the scale model was large in the initial stage (20%)
and slowed in the later stage (40–100%). The experimental results were
similar to the simulation results.
3.3. Data analysis and discussion
The simulation results showed that the decrease in vapor con-
centration versus ventilation was not a straight line as the vent opening
increased. As the ventilation increased, the relative effect that the
ventilation had on reducing the humidity decreased. This result verified
the preliminary hypothesis in Section 2.2. This reflected the relation-
ship between natural ventilation (stack ventilation) and thermal pres-
sure when temperatures differ inside and outside of solar greenhouse,
as seen in Fig. 13.
As the vent openings increased and the natural ventilation in-
creased, which caused the indoor air temperature and the concentration
of indoor vapor to decline. The natural ventilation relieved the thermal
pressure and the natural ventilation declined, which caused the decline
rate of the indoor air temperature and the concentration of indoor
vapor slowed. The decline rate of the simulation concentration of in-
door vapor was smaller than the theoretical results. The difference in-
creased as the vent opening increased, see Fig. 9. This was seen in the
scale model experiment as well, see Fig. 12.
The differences between the simulated value and the theoretical
value were caused by two factors. The natural ventilation was not a
fixed value during the CFD ventilation test. The value decreased as the
thermal pressure was relieved. There was also an assumption in the
theoretical calculations that the indoor air humidity distribution could
be uniformly separated, but the CFD ventilation test and the realistic
production demonstrated that the indoor air humidity distribution was
not uniform. The indoor air humidity distribution in the solar green-
house was regional and hierarchical during the simulation process, see
Fig. 5, Fig. 6, and Fig. 7. The air vapor volume fraction becomes lower
as it neared the air inlet. These factors resulted in the change of the
actual indoor vapor concentration and the indoor air temperature being
less than the theoretical value.
The experimental results and the simulation results had similar
distributions (Figs. 7 and 11) and overall changes (Figs. 9 and 12) for
the air temperature and relative humidity. The concentration of vapor
and air temperature inside the scale model after the experiment de-
creased in the different vent openings, and the rate of concentration of
vapor after the experiment declined slowly. The air temperature ex-
hibited similar changes. The rate of decline of air temperature and air
humidity in the scale model experiment was less than the simulation
result and there were some fluctuations. The scale model was a smaller
space, its internal environment was more sensitive to the external en-
vironmental changes, which easily exhibited abnormal fluctuations.
The number and accuracy of the sensors were limited, making it diffi-
cult to accurately reflect the real-time changes within the overall
model. Those errors observed in the experiment will likely appear in
practical applications. The overall trend of the scale model
40% 60% 80% 100%
0.02073 0.01903 0.01747 0.01665
305.33 304.18 303.24 302.72
29.2352 26.7370 25.1357 23.2738
G. Zhang, et al. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 162 (2019) 337–347

Fig. 9. Comparison of the CFD simulation results and the theoretical calculations.

3D simulation model of a solar greenhouse with various vent openings,

focusing on the relationship between the vent opening and the air hu-
midity changes in the CSG. This study presents a coupling between an
energy balance model and a CFD model to study relationships between
ventilation and humidity in a CSG. The requirements for the verifica-
tion of simulation results were used to conduct a scale model to verify
the results of the CFD experiments.
The natural ventilation volume increased as the vent was opened
more. The indoor vapor concentration of the solar greenhouse de-
creased with both air temperature. Natural ventilation was not a fixed
value, but decreased as the thermal pressure was relieved. The indoor
air humidity distribution of the solar greenhouse was regional and
hierarchical during ventilation process. These factors caused that when
the vent openings were the same, the decline of vapor concentration
after the CFD ventilation test was lower than the theoretical value.
When the vent opening was 20%, the actual decline was 0.97% less
than the theoretical value. This rate increased as the vent was opened
Fig. 10. Scale model and experimental devices. more. When the vent opening was 100%, the actual decline was 23.31%
less than the theoretical value. The simulation results were verified by
Table 7
the scale model experiment and were more informative for actual
Specific structural parameter of the two vents in the scale model. production.
The practical value and significance of the research were supposed
K′ (%) c b1 (mm) and F1 (mm2) b2 (mm) and F2 (mm2) ΔH (mm)
to provide basic reference for controlling the indoor air temperature
20% 1° b1 = 5.45, F1 = 218 b2 = 4.325, F2 = 173 122.775 and the air humidity via natural ventilation of vents. The outcome
40% 2° b1 = 0.436, F1 = 436 b2 = 8.6, F2 = 344 120.5 could result in a reduction in energy consumption and the GHG emis-
60% 3° b1 = 16.35, F1 = 654 b2 = 12.825, F2 = 513 118.15 sions in greenhouse operations, which improved the resource efficiency
80% 4° b1 = 21.8, F1 = 872 b2 = 16.975, F2 = 679 115.75
and a cleaner production. These results also have strong practical sig-
100% 5° b1 = 27.225, F1 = 1089 b2 = 21.075, F2 = 843 113.275
nificance for the production. More efficient and intelligent control
methods for the follow-up automation and intelligent control of CSG
experimental results verified the results of the CFD simulations. environments will be an important focus for future studies.

4. Conclusion Acknowledgments

This study simulated the ventilation of a real CSG by establishing a The authors would like to thank financial support provided by the

Fig. 11. Internal air relative humidity and temperature of the scale model with the 40% vent opening.

345
G. Zhang, et al.
Fig. 12. Scale model experimental results.
Fig. 13. Relationship figures between stack ventilation and thermal pressure with different temperatures inside and outside the solar greenhouse.
National Science Foundation for Young Scientists of China (51705520).
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