TY - JOUR
T1 - Conductive heat loss of sows in a ventilated environment identified by steady CFD-CHT modelling considering thermophysiological effects
AU - Huang, Tao
AU - Zhang, Guoqiang
AU - Rong, Li
PY - 2022/6/25
Y1 - 2022/6/25
N2 - Quantifying the conductive heat loss of sows is important in establishing the heat balance equation of sows to evaluate the heat stress because sows spend a significant amount of time lying on the floor. However, previous studies did not offer explicate relationships between the floor heat transfer coefficient (FHTC) and the potential influential factors, making it difficult to estimate the conductive heat loss from sows in commercial productions. This study employed steady-state CFD-CHT simulations to investigate the conductive heat transfer from sows to three typical types of floor system in sow houses, considering the sizes of sows, contact ratios, air distribution strategies, and ambient temperatures. A co-simulation approach was proposed in order to involve the thermoregulation effect of sows under different ambient thermal conditions. The results indicated that the FHTC increased with the air movements and contact ratios, and decreased with the sizes of sows. The proportion of the conductive heat loss decreased with increased ambient temperature and contact ratio. The energy partition suggested that the conductive heat loss accounted for 6–19% of the total heat loss from sows at 20 °C ambient temperature and reduced to 5%-11% at 30 °C ambient temperature. The established relationships between the FHTC and convective heat transfer coefficient, and between the FHTC and interface temperature enabled the calculation of conductive heat loss from sows under various circumstances.
AB - Quantifying the conductive heat loss of sows is important in establishing the heat balance equation of sows to evaluate the heat stress because sows spend a significant amount of time lying on the floor. However, previous studies did not offer explicate relationships between the floor heat transfer coefficient (FHTC) and the potential influential factors, making it difficult to estimate the conductive heat loss from sows in commercial productions. This study employed steady-state CFD-CHT simulations to investigate the conductive heat transfer from sows to three typical types of floor system in sow houses, considering the sizes of sows, contact ratios, air distribution strategies, and ambient temperatures. A co-simulation approach was proposed in order to involve the thermoregulation effect of sows under different ambient thermal conditions. The results indicated that the FHTC increased with the air movements and contact ratios, and decreased with the sizes of sows. The proportion of the conductive heat loss decreased with increased ambient temperature and contact ratio. The energy partition suggested that the conductive heat loss accounted for 6–19% of the total heat loss from sows at 20 °C ambient temperature and reduced to 5%-11% at 30 °C ambient temperature. The established relationships between the FHTC and convective heat transfer coefficient, and between the FHTC and interface temperature enabled the calculation of conductive heat loss from sows under various circumstances.
KW - CFD
KW - Conductive heat loss
KW - Conjugate heat transfer
KW - Sow
KW - Thermophysiological model
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132854420&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.compag.2022.107142
DO - 10.1016/j.compag.2022.107142
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0168-1699
VL - 199
JO - Computers and Electronics in Agriculture
JF - Computers and Electronics in Agriculture
M1 - 107142
ER -