The need for improvement in engineering design and process optimization for microwave drying of wood has stimulated the development of computer simulation techniques to predict temperature and moisture history and distribution wood sample. A 3-D comprehensive heat and mass transfer model was developed to simulate the free liquid, vapor, and bound water movement including consideration of internal heat generation in microwave drying of yellow poplar specimens. The model was solved using the finite element analysis with FEMLAB software. The model predictions compared favorably with predicted and experimental solutions. The effect of changes of the most important parameters on the predictions of the model is also presented. The results showed that the variations of irradiation time, microwave power level and sample thickness played an important role in overall drying kinetics.
In the present paper, 3-D equations for coupled heat and mass conservation equations for wood are solved to study the transient heat and mass transfer during high thermal treatment of wood. The model is based on Luikov's approach, including pressure. The model equations are solved numerically by the commercial package Femlab for the temperature and moisture content histories under different treatment conditions. The simulation of the proposed conjugate problem allows the assessment of the effect of the heat and mass transfer within wood. A parametric study was also carried out to determine the effects of several parameters such as initial moisture content and the sample thickness on the temperature, pressure and moisture content distributions within the samples during heat treatment.
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