ABSTRACT
Ventilated horticultural cartons are the preferred packaging for export of fresh produce around the globe. Cartons are designed with vent holes along the top, bottom and sides to facilitate cooling airflow distribution between the fresh produce, towards the maintenance of an unbroken cold chain. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has become the main numerical approach to evaluating carton vent hole designs. A major benefit of CFD modeling is the high-resolution data it produces, which can be a valuable tool for visualization and evaluation of package performance. Some of the main approaches used to quantify cooling performance are briefly reviewed and can be helpful when identifying trade-offs between design features. With increasing public interest in sustainability goals and resource conservation, applications of CFD in packaging design and performance assessment have incorporated the predication of energy amount used in cooling fruit inside ventilated cartons.
