CFD simulation of baffled geometries on gypsum board drying process

Abstract

A CFD code is programmed to simulate the drying process of gypsum board with hot air in a 2D computational domain. The Realizable k − ε model is used to model turbulent behavior in the flow field. The influence of air velocity, temperature, dryer geometry structure in this process has been investigated. This study was performed to configure operating temperatures (303, 333, 353, 373 K) and air velocities (5, 10, 15 m/s). By examining several operating conditions and their effects, it is better to obtain the optimal state for the drying process according to the operating conditions. Among the studied cases (for different temperatures), about 95% improvement is achieved in the computational range(between the lowest temperature and speed compared to the highest temperature and speed) for drying rate. Different drying zone geometries (13 geometries) with different shapes of baffles were studied to find out if there was any improvement on airflow in the gypsum-board drying process. Results showed that baffles with large longitudinal vortices could help the gypsum board to be dried with controlled drying rate. Changes in velocity and moisture on the surface for the best form of simulated baffles compared to without baffles geometry were 85.30% and 34.68%, respectively.