On the feasibility of using open source solvers for the simulation of a turbulent air flow in a dairy barn

•wind tunnel experiments on a 1:100 scaled naturally ventilated barn model were done.•Velocity and turbulence was measured in high resolution for a benchmark dataset.•The dataset was used to validate two transient open source codes.•For both codes, time averaged velocities agreed well with the experimental data.•For both codes, turbulent characteristics agreed well in the second part of the barn.