Image Analysis, Homogenization, Numerical Simulation and Experiment as Complementary Tools to Enlighten the Relationship between Wood Anatomy and Drying Behavior

Abstract

This paper has been written for a special issue devoted to the works done in France in the field of drying. Therefore, it aims, through numerous examples, to show the spirit which initiates and guides the research work of the Forest Products Unit at ENGREF : how more and more microscopic information can be included in the study of the drying process ?

Two steps are involved :

•microscopic observation and experiments to predict the macroscopic properties

•use of the macroscopic properties (the previous step + experiments carried our at the macroscopic scale) to predict the drying behavior.

In this approach, each prediction comes from a model, that means assumptions, formulations, calculations and then validation.

Several tools (image analysis, homogenization, measurement of microscopic and macroscopic properties, numerical simulation of heat and mass transfer, refined drying experiments) are used to study the drying of wood.