CFD MODELLING TO STUDY THE DISTRIBUTION OF FUNGICIDE PARTICLES FROM THERMONEBULISATION FOGGING SYSTEMS DURING POSTHARVEST STORAGE OF FRUIT

摘要

Thermonebulisation fogging systems for postharvest fungicide treatments of fruits is a recent development. To investigate the distribution of fungicide particles from thermonebulisation fogging systems, CFD based multiscale model was used. At the smallest scale, the flow and deposition inside loaded individual boxes was predicted using a combined discrete element (DE) and CFD modelling. At larger scale, a loaded cool room model that predicts the fate of fungicide particles was developed. The modelling was based on an Eulerian-Lagrangian multiphase flow model. The effect of air ventilation rate and ventilation interval on deposition of fungicide was investigated. Within individual boxes, the highest deposition was observed on the top product and the lowest on the bottom product. The highest fungicide deposition was observed during fogging without ventilation while the lowest deposition corresponded to fogging with the highest ventilation rate. Good agreement was found between measured and predicted results of deposition of fungicide particles.