Many animals are transported by ship worldwide. To ensure they survive journeys from Africa to Asia in good condition, a sophisticated ventilation system for the individual decks is essential, for which there are a variety of ‘design targets’:
• Sufficient fresh air for all animals on all decks
• Minimal pressure differences between the decks
• Low space consumption
• Cost-effective
• Sufficient cleaning possibilities
The performance of the ventilation system to be developed needed to be checked during the planning phase. For this reason, FlowMotion was commissioned to simulate the airflow through the ventilation system.
The particular difficulty with the simulation was primarily the enormous size of the ship and the air ducts. Each deck is supplied with several air intake and exhaust ducts. At the end of the ducts, powerful fans ensure the required volume flows. All these components had to be mapped in the computer to be able to make an accurate prediction of the flow in the ducts and between the decks.
In the simulations, with calculation times of several days, the geometry of the intake and exhaust ducts was varied multiple times to find a design that could meet all the aforementioned requirements. After the ship was built, all requirements for sufficient ventilation for the animals were experimentally verified by the certification authorities.
