Resumen

SALINAS, C.H.; GATICA, Y.A.; VARGAS, H.A.  y  ANANIAS, R.A.. Three-dimensional simulation of isothermal wood drying of radiata pine using effective diffusion coefficients. Lat. Am. appl. res. [online]. 2013, vol.43, n.1, pp.95-102. ISSN 0327-0793.

The objective of the present work was to simulate three-dimensional drying of wood, based on the concept of the effective diffusion coefficient. For this, we used a conventional drying process of radiata pine in a controlled environment (dry and wet bulb temperatures of 44 and 36 °C, respectively). This experiment allowed us to gather data on: a) the spatial distribution of moisture content at different drying times, b) the drying curve, and c) the surface emission coefficient. A differential, partial, non-linear, second-order mathematical model was used, and the exponential functions of the effective diffusion coefficient characterized the three-dimensional orthotropic (radial, tangential, and longitudinal) transport of moisture content in the wood. This mathematical model was integrated numerically through the control volume finite element method, which contemplates: a) tetrahedral elements for discretization, b) implicit Euler method for the time differential, and c) Gauss-Seidel with successive over-relaxation method to resolve the linear equation system. We compared these results for the three-dimensional spatial distributions of moisture content after 22, 44, 66, and 88 (h) of drying, and the resulting drying curves were in good agreement with the experiments.

Palabras clave : Mathematical Model; Wood Drying; Radiata Pine; Effective Diffusion; CVFEM.

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