Numerical Simulation of Warm-Air Drying of Mexican Softwood (Pinus Pseudostrobus)

S. Sandoval Torres[1], E. Hernández-Bautista[1], J. Rodríguez-Ramírez[1], A. Carrillo Parra[2]
[1]Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CIIDIR, Oaxaca, Mexico
[2]Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Linares, N.L. México
Published in 2012

In this work, the numerical simulation of Mexican softwood (Pinus pesudostrobus) drying is presented by solving a physics-based model. The model was developed by considering the heat and mass transport and the representative elementary volume, which involves the solid, liquid and gas phases. We solved a system of partial differential equations by numerical factorization in COMSOL Multiphysics 3.4. Three primary variables were solved: the moisture content, the temperature, and the dry-air density. The warm-air drying of Mexican softwood was simulated on a one-dimensional basis. The liquid water, water vapor pressure, dry-air density and moisture evolution at different depth of wood thickness display a good reliability of our numerical simulation.