Modeling Flow and Heat Transfer During Freezing of Foods in Forced Airstreams

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Mathematical modeling of food freezing has been limited to the modeling of the internal heat transfer where the external convective heat‐transfer coefficients are assumed or empirically estimated. Previous procedures followed to solve the external boundary layer in tandem with the internal heat transfer were constrained by numerical complexities due to the transient nature of the heat transfer, requiring unsteady formulation for the flow. In this article, attempts have been made to decouple the flow and heat transfer equations for the external boundary layer flow over a food product being frozen. The flow equations have been solved as a steady‐state problem using Falker‐Skan transformations of the boundary layer equation. The heat‐transfer equation for fluid flow is solved as an unsteady‐state problem in conjunction with the internal heat transfer and phase change inside the product undergoing freezing. The model is validated for a case of air‐impingement freezing.