A 3-Dimensional Computer Simulation Model for Temperature Distribution Prediction in a Seafood Shipping Container

Seafood transportation/distribution has become an important activity in the seafood industry due to increasing global demand for fresh seafood. Providing good quality seafood to consumers requires appropriate handling and packaging technology. The purpose of this research is to study the effect of various combinations of insulation and coolant quantities on temperature distribution within a seafood shipping container and packaging cost.

A three-dimensional transient heat transfer model was developed to predict the temperature distribution in a fish shipping container. The finite element method was used to develop the model. An eight-noded isoparametric hexahedron element was selected. The geometric configuration of the fish shipping container and the physical and thermal properties of the materials used for packaging were the input parameters of the model. The model validation was performed in two stages to ensure component-wise validation. The first stage was for the case with no ice. The second stage was for the case with ice. The results from the model were compared to those obtained through experiments. Predicted and observed temperatures showed good agreement. The temperature predictions were within 2 °C for the case with no ice and 3 °C for the case with ice.

The effect of a polyethylene/aluminum foil laminated bag on the temperature distribution in the shipping container was studied for the case with no ice. The temperatures of high density polyethylene, which simulated fish, were reduced by approximately 3 °C (maximum) due to the low emissivity of aluminum foil.

The model was applied to study the effect of various combinations of insulation and coolant quantities on the temperature distribution and the packaging cost. It was found that the fish container with 1.70 cm thick polystyrene and 10 kg of ice can be used for a required shipping time of 24 hours whereas the fish container with 2.54 cm thick polystyrene and 10 kg of ice can be used for a required shipping time of 48 hours under the simulated transport conditions used in this study.