Computational fluid dynamics simulations and validation of the pressure distribution on the roof of a commercial multi-span Venlo-type glasshouse

In this paper, experimental work conducted on a 52 span Venlo-type glasshouse (Hoxey and Moran, Full scale wind pressure and load experiments—Multispan 167×111 m glasshouse (Venlo), Divisional note 1594, AFRC Institute of Engineering Research, Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedford, January, 1991) is used to validate the prediction of pressure distributions on the external side of the glasshouse roof made using the commercial CFD package Fluent 5.3.18. In addition, the validation of predictions of the pressure on a 7 span Venlo-type glasshouse is demonstrated and a comparison with numerical data by Mistriotis et al. (Neth. J. Agric. Sci. 45 (1997) 81) was made. The results of the presented CFD predictions are shown to be in good agreement with the experimental data and give confidence for future glasshouse simulations.