Recently, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been frequently applied in many fields relating to fluid flow, and it has been shown that CFD is useful in these fields. The cooling rate and quality of foodstuffs in a cold store are highly dependent on the temperature field which,is closely related to flow field. However, the flow field designed by using traditional methods, using a lot of time and cost without reliable and repeatable results, is not good enough. In this paper, a two-dimensional mathematical model for the inside a minitype constructional cold store [4.5 m (1) x 3.3 m (w) x 2.5 m (h)] was proposed and a related computer program with SIMPLE algorithm and crisscross girding technique were developed. The simulation results reflected the characteristics of airflow and temperature distribution. After that, several design parameters (corner baffle, the stack mode of foodstuffs, etc.) which would affect the flow field in the cold store were analyzed. The results of calculation indicated that all these design parameters especially the stack mode of foodstuffs influenced the flow and temperature fields inside the cold store greatly. It was demonstrated that CFD was a powerful tool for designing and optimizing the flow field in cold store. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.