Effect of modeling simplifications on behavior and computational cost for simulation of fixed bed wheat drying process

Abstract

This work focuses on the simulation of a fixed bed drying process for wheat grains. A rigorous model based on Fick's law was developed and validated against experimental results. The impact on outputs and computational burden was studied after imposing different simplifying hypotheses. Neglecting internal temperature gradients, the external mass transfer resistance, and the difference between grain and air temperatures saved 18% of execution time with respect to the more rigorous model. These simplifications are adequate for some practical applications. Nevertheless, simulations with a simpler model that only used an average moisture content for the grains yielded worse predicted drying rates.

Keywords:

• Drying models
• simulation
• grain drying
• wheat
• deep bed drying

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge the financial support from Facultad de Ingeniería – Udelar.