Aplicación de la dinámica de fluidos computacional al control de las mermas de vino en naves de crianza climatizadas

Abstract

The wine ageing in oak barrels is a good way to increase the wine quality. An interaction between the wine, wood and the air of the cellar takes place during the ageing. The most important outcome from a quantitative point of view is the transfer of a fraction of the wine from the barrel to the air through the oak barrel. This is known as wine losses. For Rioja Controlled Appellation wine cellars a 1% variation in wine losses per annum could represent as much as 107 ¿ per annum. This project generates scientifical and technological contributions around the wine losses. To reach this objective the work has been divided in three parts. First, the thermal response of the wine cellar in La Rioja (Spain) has been characterized, by means of thermal simulation. Second, a mathematical model has been developed to describe the mass transfer from the barrel to the air of the cellar depending on the environment of the cellar. Third, the indoor flow and environment conditions of the wine cellar is studied by means of Computational Fluid Dynamics, CFD. Integrating in the CFD equations the mass transfer model of the barrel as a mass source and the thermal response of the cellar as boundary conditions, it is possible to analyze the influence of the air flow on the wine losses. The evaluation of the strategies of air flow diffusion according to their impact on the reduction of the wine losses, allow to define the design criteria for the air management in the wine cellars.