TRNSYS Simulation and Experimental Validation of Internal Temperature and Heating Demand in a Glass Greenhouse

The energy demand in greenhouses is enormous, and high-performance covering materials and thermal screens with varying radiometric properties are used to optimise the energy demand in building energy simulations (BES). Transient System Simulation (TRNSYS) software is a common BES tool used to model the thermal performance of buildings. The calculation of the greenhouse internal temperature and heating demand in TRNSYS involves the solution of the transient heat transfer processes. This study modelled the temperature and heating demand of two multi-span glass greenhouses with concave (farm A) and convex (farm B) shapes. This study aims to investigate the influence of the different BES longwave radiation modes on greenhouse internal temperature in different zones and the heating demand of a conditioned zone. The standard hourly simulation results were compared with the experimental data. The results showed that the standard and detailed modes accurately predicted greenhouse internal temperature (the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE) > 0.7 for all three zones separated by thermal screens) and heating demand (NSE > 0.8) for farms A and B. The monthly heating demand predicted by the simple and standard radiation modes for farm A matched the experimental measurements with deviations within 27.7% and 7.6%, respectively. The monthly heating demand predicted by the simple, standard, and detailed radiation modes for farm B were similar to the experimental measurements with deviations within 10.5%, 6.7%, and 2.9%, respectively. In the order of decreasing accuracy, the results showed that the preferred radiation modes for the heating demand were standard and simple for farm A, and detailed, standard, and simple for farm B.