What is Thermal Entrainment

Computational modelling is nowadays a powerful tool for project and design of engineering systems, anticipating and/or correcting problems that may lead to inefficiencies. This chapter describes three distinct computational tools with different mathematical and numerical models. The computational tools are used with the purpose of improving the thermal and energy performance of cold stores. All tools are applied to the same agrifood company. First, Computational Fluid Dynamics is used to optimize velocity and temperature fields for the interior a cold room. Afterwards, an energy analysis and thermal load simulation is performed to the cold store facility to reduce its thermal loads. Finally, a statistical prediction model based on empirical correlations is used to predict the energy performance of the cold store and compare it to an average behaviour. The numerical results indicate the improvement of the thermal performance and consequently of food safety, as well as considerable energy savings that can be achieved in cold stores by the combined use of different modelling techniques.