Study on CFD modeling mode for iceberg lettuces during precooling

Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation has been widely used in the study of forced air precooling process of fresh horticultural produce. This work established a quasi-real three-dimensional model of iceberg lettuce, by comparing the wall shear stress, wall drag coefficient, boundary layer separation angle and recirculation zone length of an iceberg lettuce with those of an equal diameter sphere over a large Reynolds number range (10∼25000), and whether an iceberg lettuce can be directly replaced by an equal diameter sphere in the study of numerical modeling was validated. The results showed that an iceberg lettuce can be replaced by an equal diameter sphere in academic research, and the maximum relative deviation was not more than 10% for all the flow parameters in the whole range of Reynolds number.