CFD Study of Cellulose Cooling Pads to Evaluate Pressure Drop in Different Designs

Abstract

Cellulose evaporative panels offer a low-energy solution for conditioning large industrial and agricultural spaces. Despite their widespread use, detailed technical characterization under realistic conditions remains scarce. This work presents a CFD study of a DollTec-manufactured panel using full 3D simulations in OpenFOAM. A representative section was modeled and a mesh sensitivity analysis conducted to ensure convergence in pressure-drop prediction, employing an unstructured mesh with snappyHexMesh. Different operating conditions and geometric configurations were tested, varying panel thickness, angle between panels, inlet velocity, and panel length, aiming to optimize pressure drop and reduce fan energy consumption. The kappa-omega SST and realizable kappa-epsilon turbulence models were employed, and results were benchmarked against reference data from similar industrial panels. This numerical scope lays the groundwork for forthcoming studies incorporating evaporation phenomena and full cooling capacity characterization.