Abstract
Pigs are subjected to intensive environment control and management for higher productivity due to their sensitivity to climatic variation, which affects their growth. The aim of the current work is to numerically model the air speed and temperature in forced and free ventilation piggeries to achieve optimum environmental control. A steady two-dimensional numerical model including the effect of buoyancy, turbulence and heat generated by the pigs was solved using the computational fluid dynamics software Fluent, which is based on the integral volume method. In the forced ventilation case, air speed and temperature inside the piggery and at the pigs’ level were predicted for three different locations of ventilation opening, variable air inlet velocities (in the range 0.3 m/s – 7 m/s), and insulated or non insulated external walls, for ambient temperatures of 5 °C and 32 °C. In the free ventilation case, temperature and air speed at the pig’s level were predicted for a particular wind speed and direction, and some variations in the design. These variations were adding louvers in the air opening, lowering the outer wall of the piggery and changing the type of pen fence used. These results helped to identify problems in the design and offer suggestions for improvements.