The blockage rate for three kinds of nets commonly used in agricultural facilities was assessed by using the image acquisition and its relevant processing. By using both empirical relations presented by Idel’chik and Richards and Robinson, and the blockage rate obtained from the image processing, the pressure drop through the nets was predicted and also compared with wind tunnel experiment results. The results of the study showed that the blockage rate of the net was discriminated according to such factors as the magnitude of nets, the existence of inside threads, the thickness and number of threads. In addition, the blockage rate for the incident angle of 0° when the wind blew at the front had the range of 0.22－0.29 (0.22－0.32 when considering whole incident angles from 0° to 45° by 15°). For the nets with the blockage rate of about 30% or below, the prediction by the empirical relations of by Idel’chik and Richards and Robinson showed a little higher pressure drop overall than that of the wind tunnel test, but the use of the empirical relations and the blockage rate could be thought of as providing effectively meaningful guidelines for the safe design of agricultural facilities including nets because the wind tunnel test has been tedious and expensive. Further research and potential application on the prediction technique of the pressure drop, regarding both a subtle deformation by the wind and manufacturing methods with regard to the level of knots and the existence of inside threads, needs to be done for the nets with higher blockage rate.

Using virtual reality technology, users can learn and experience many interactions in virtual space like the actual physical space. This study was conducted to develop air flow simulator that allows farmers and consultants to consult air flow through VR devices by creating a greenhouse or pigpen model. It can help educate farmers about the importance of ventilation effects for agricultural facilities. We proposed CFD visualization system by building a virtual reality environment and constructing database of CFD and structure of agricultural facilities. After consultants can set up situations according to environmental conditions, the users experience the visualized air flow of agricultural facility according to the ventilation effects. Also it can provide a quantified environmental distribution in the agricultural facility. Currently, the CFD data in agricultural facilities are established during winter and summer. In order to experience various environmental conditions in the developed system, The experts need to run CFD data under various environmental conditions and register them in the system requirements.