Modeling and Simulation of the Drying of Beech Timber (Fagus sylvatica)Using Oscillating Regimes

Abstract

This paper represents a numerical study of the massive (60mm) and thin (38mm) wood drying using oscillating drying regimes applied on beech timber (Fagus sylvatica). All thermo-physical properties relative of studied wood are taken from the literature on appropriate experiments. We showed that Luikov’s model can be used to predict temperature and moisture content evolutions using oscillating regimes. First numerically tests on 60mm timber wood consists in increasing and decreasing alternation of the drying parameters (temperature), at the rising 12-15°C and at the descent 10- 12°C, every alternation being higher than the precedent with 2-4°C. Second numerical test consists to oscillate the values of equilibrium moisture content with the oscillation amplitudes of ±10% and ±20% at the frequencies of 6hours. These practical experiments are detailed in the literature. Luikov’s model gives satisfactory results, according to the experiments obtained in the literature. But, convective transfer coefficients are function of each experiment and we observed a short difference between oscillation amplitudes of ±10% and ±20% on moisture content evolution. Thus, Luikov’s model can be a tool to study oscillation drying timber in order to reduce consumption of energy during the drying process.