MATERIAL SELECTION ON NUTRIENT FILM TECHNIQUE (NFT) BEDS USING COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMIC (CFD)
Abdul Wahhaab1, Herry Suhardiyanto1, and Ahmad Indra Siswantara2
1 Departement of Mechanical and Biosystem Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Bogor Agricultural University, IPB Dramaga Campus, PO BOX 220, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia
2 Departement of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Indonesia, Depok, West Java, Indonesia
ABSTRACT
Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) is one of hydroponic technology that nutrient solution circulate in a crop's root zone at anytime with 3 mm tickness. A computer model has been developed to simulate the thermal distribution of NFT beds using Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD). The objective of this research are to develop a simulation model of moving heat flow of nutrients in the NFT bed in several types of materials with a CFD program and to determine the optimal type of materials in the design of beds. The crop that is used as a object of a research is a tomato. Tomato grown in two different beds, with and without zone cooling. CFD use for simulate heat transfer on these beds and simulate on model of beds with several different materials.
The results showed that the distribution of nutrient solution temperature along the beds change over time follow the greenhouse temperature. The simulation on different material of beds like PVC, fiberglass, glass, asbestos, porcelain, cement, and styrofoam showed that fiberglass is the highest temperature 28.9-32.3 oC and porcelain is the lowest temperature 28.9-31.2 oC. Otherwise, the lowest heat transfer coefficient is fiberglass and the highest is porcelain. High or low heat transfer coefficient will affect the release of heat from inside the beds to the environment. According to analysis, the optimum of material which used for NFT beds design are cement, porselaian, and glass.
Keywords: Material, NFT Beds, CFD
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