Exploring Ventilation Efficiency in Poultry Buildings: The Validation of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in a Cross-Mechanically Ventilated Broiler Farm

Broiler production in modern poultry farms commonly uses mechanical ventilation systems. This mechanical ventilation requires an amount of electric energy and a high level of investment in technology. Nevertheless, broiler production is affected by periodic problems of mortality because of thermal stress, thus being crucial to explore the ventilation efficiency. In this article, we analyze a cross-mechanical ventilation system focusing on air velocity distribution. In this way, two methodologies were used to explore indoor environment in livestock buildings: Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations and direct measurements for verification and validation (V&V) of CFD. In this study, a validation model using a Generalized Linear Model (GLM) was conducted to compare these methodologies. The results showed that both methodologies were similar in results: the average of air velocities values were 0.60 ± 0.56 m s for CFD and 0.64 ± 0.54 m s for direct measurements. In conclusion, the air velocity was not affected OPEN ACCESS Energies 2013, 6 2606 by the methodology (CFD or direct measurements), and the CFD simulations were therefore validated to analyze indoor environment of poultry farms and its operations. A better knowledge of the indoor environment may contribute to reduce the demand of electric energy, increasing benefits and improving the thermal comfort of broilers.