Latest developments in potroom building ventilation CFD modelling

In a context of production increases and proactive management of future health regulations, optimised workshop ventilation is necessary. Accurate predictions are required in order to achieve cost-efficient ventilation design including all specific features of the building, and this involves developing complex CFD models. The complexity of the models must, however, be well adjusted. They have to fulfil requirements as different as, for example, providing precise simulation of the impact of ventilation on cell cooling or determination of the positions for roof-vent monitoring equipment. A new approach is now considered, based on the development of several CFD tools of varying sophistication. Depending on project requirements, a combination of tools with the most appropriate level of complexity can be selected so that the trade-off between accuracy and computation time is optimised. This approach, validated through comparison with measurement campaigns, can now be used for cell development and new projects, regardless of building design and local conditions.