Temperature distribution analysis inside the strawberry flower head
Estonian University of Life Sciences, Institute of Technology, Kreutzwaldi 56, EE51014
Tartu, Estonia; *Correspondence: madis.pennar@emu.ee
Abstract:
Different studies by numerous researchers were carried out recently to describe different heat flux components of heat balance equations for radiation frost condition in plants. The aim of most of the papers was to present more simple and clear mathematical algebra to show the plant heat balance formulas. To achieve this aim several simplifications were made. Nevertheless there are studies reporting different flower damage rates during spring frost sessions that mentioned studies cannot explain. This leads us to the need to find the temperature distribution inside the flower to understand why during the similar energy flux conditions the flowers act against frost stress differently. It’s easy to measure the flower surface temperature but rather difficult to measure temperature distribution inside the flower head due to very small flower head scale compared to sensor sizes. To help to overcome these difficulties the authors make simplification by substituting the strawberry flower head with spherical homogeneous body though it is clear that the flower head is not homogeneous because of varying flower structure. The aim of this study is to present mathematical formulas for temperature distribution calculation inside the spherical body in terms of heat transfer conditions characteristic to radiation frost. Transient numerical methods are implemented for different conditions in case of spherical body. This approach enables us to decide if suggested mathematical solution is usable for nonhomogeneous body. Computer program was prepared to analyse the results. Key words: radiation frost, temperature distribution, plant, transient numerical method.
Key words:
plant, radiation frost, temperature distribution, transient numerical method