A Practical Model for Selecting Nonwoven Cover Date Bunch via Finite Element Analysis Using COMSOL Multiphysics

ABSTRACT

Water injury and fungus infection are the main causes of large economic deterioration and losses in the quality of date fruits during harvesting period. The nonwoven bagging product was used for the first time on date palm and has been shown to efficiently protect date fruit from heavy rain and sunburn that reduces the rate of transpiration and increases fungus spoilage. The aim of this study is to evaluate the potential applicability of COMSOL code in simulating the heat transfer behavior through nonwoven date cover. The study also intended to use finite element method and adaptive mesh refinement technique to increase the accuracy of the solution and create model for efficient simulation of heat exchange in nonwoven bag. The proposed model was validated by the uniformity between simulating and experimental results. A detailed numerical study was conducted to find the influence of air permeability on heat transfer through nonwoven textiles. Results demonstrated that the reduction of nonwoven permeability is beneficial to minimize the heat taken away by forced convection by decreasing the inner air transportation.

摘要

水害和真菌侵染是枣果采收期经济大幅度恶化和品质损失的主要原因. 这种非织造袋装产品首次在椰枣上使用, 并已被证明能有效保护椰枣果实免受大雨和晒伤, 从而降低蒸腾速率, 增加真菌腐败. 本研究的目的是评估程序在模拟非织造枣树覆盖物传热行为方面的潜在适用性. 本研究还打算使用有限元方法和自适应网格细化技术来提高解的精度, 并为非织造布袋内热交换的有效模拟创建模型. 仿真结果与实验结果的一致性验证了该模型的有效性. 为了研究透气性对非织造布传热的影响, 进行了详细的数值研究. 结果表明, 非织造布透气性的降低有助于通过减少内部空气传输来减少强制对流带走的热量.

KEYWORDS:

• Finite element
• heat transfer
• nonwoven
• bagging product
• COMSOL Multiphysics

关键词:

• 有限元
• 传热
• 无纺布
• 袋装产品
• 多重物理

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).