Numerical Thermal Analysis of an Electric Oven for Neapolitan Pizzas

Neapolitan pizza is traditionally cooked in wood-fired ovens ensuring high quality in cooking pizza and providing an excellence in Italian cooking tradition. Besides safeguarding Italian cooking tradition, in recent years there is a growing attention on wood-fired oven impacts both on indoor and outdoor air quality and pollution. Thus, optimal design of electric ovens alternative to wood-fired ones is an interesting concern in order to achieve both high quality of Neapolitan pizza cooking and air pollution prevention. This paper deals with a numerical investigation on thermal conditions provided by an innovative electric oven for Neapolitan pizzas cooking. A three-dimensional numerical model has been developed based on a finite volume scheme to simulate steady and unsteady operating conditions. Radiation effects of inner walls have been considered and the boundary effects of the oven, both radiative and convective, have been carefully modelled. Results have been examined in terms of heat flux distributions, temperature and velocity fields, showing good cooking conditions for pizzas.