Application of multiphysics and multiscale simulations to optimize industrial wood drying kilns

Abstract

Timber industry and export are an important part of Estonian economy, making affordable industrial scale equipment an important investment for small or starting companies. These companies often develop on-site equipment for wood processing and drying, utilizing pre-existing infrastructure to minimize cost and risk. However, under these conditions custom design of the wood drying kilns is often required.In the present study, a finite element simulation based approach is used to simulate and optimize the industrial wood drying process and the design of the custom-made kilns in a multiscale–multiphysics modeling framework. Air flow is calculated by the Navier–Stokes equations or κ–ε turbulence model followed by heat transport in the solid and gas phase and moisture dynamics in wood and air. The dense packing of the processed materials is handled by utilizing a porous media approach and homogenization procedure, leading to effective simulations of the moisture and heat balance.Multiphysics–multiscale simulations are successfully adapted to optimize the industrial design of wood drying kilns. The optimization of the kiln design is achieved by estimating the necessary ventilating power and ensuring homogeneous drying of the processed material.