MICROCLIMATE MEASURING AND FLUID-DYNAMICS SIMULATION IN AN INDUSTRIAL BROILERS HOUSE: TESTING OF AN EXPERIMENTAL VENTILATION SYSTEM

The environment in the poultry house is a combination of physical and biological factors which interact as a complex dynamic system of interactions between birds, husbandry system, light, temperature and the aerial environment. The most important role of ventilation is to remove carbon dioxide and water from the air of the house. Adequate ventilation rates provide the most effective method of controlling temperature within the house and also allows for control of relative humidity and can play a key role in alleviating the negative effects of high stocking density and of wet litter. In the present study the results of experimental tests performed in a breeding broilers farm are shown; in particular the efficiency of a semi transversal ventilation system was studied against the use of a pure transversal one. In order to verify the efficiency of the systems, fluid dynamic simulations were carried out using the software Comsol multiphysics. The results of this study show that a correct architectural and structural design of the building must be complemented by an equally correct mechanical and fluid dynamics design of the ventilation system in order to maintain the environmental parameters within the limits of the thermo-neutral and welfare conditions, to achieve the highest levels of productivity.