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This work is part of a research activity aiming to improve and to optimize air distribution systems in refrigerated vehicles in order to decrease the temperature differences throughout the palletised cargo. This condition is essential in order to preserve the quality, safety and shelf life of perishable products.

The present study reports on the numerical and experimental characterization of airflow within a semi-trailer enclosure loaded with pallets. The experiments were carried out on a reduced-scale model built with a ratio 1/3.3 of a trailer. The performance of ventilation and temperature homogeneity were characterized with and without supply air ducts systems. Both configurations were extensively used in refrigerated transport.

The numerical modeling of airflow was performed using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code Fluent with the Reynolds stress model (RSM). Numerical results showed good agreement with the experimental data. Numerical and experimental results show clearly the importance of air ducts in decreasing temperature differences throughout the cargo.