A nonintrusive flow measurement technique to validate the simulated laminar fluid flow in a packed container with vented walls

A nonintrusive flow measurement technique (particle image velocimetry) was used to determine the airflow field in a package with a container-to-product diameter ratio of less than 10. The complexity and uneven distribution of the measured flow field supported the requirement of a geometrical and mathematical model capable of describing the geometry and physics of flow within the package. Using novel computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes, an accurate model of the packed structure was developed and the 3D Navier–Stokes equations were solved. A good agreement was obtained between experimental and predicted velocities. The detailed insight on the airflow pattern provided by the CFD analysis makes this approach an ideal tool to analyze the effect of different vent designs in the airflow field distribution in complex packaging systems.