Standard and Superheated Steam Schedules for Radiata Pine Single-Board Drying: Model Prediction and Actual Measurements

Abstract

An assessment was made on the predicted drying behavior with its actual measurement for a radiata pine single-board drying model. The predicted temperature profiles within the board showed reasonable agreement compared with experimental drying tests using both fibre optic and thermocouple sensors. The agreement between predicted drying rates and its measurements was acceptable. This model was used to assess predicted drying behavior applying schedules (dry-bulb/wet-bulb: 140/90°C, 140/99°C, 160/90°C, 160/99°C). The difference in drying rate was small for wet-bulb at 90°C compared with that at 99°C.

Keywords:

• Drying rate
• Lumber
• Modeling
• Schedule
• Wood

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work has been conducted at Ensis under the Research for Industry contract scheme between New Zealand Foundation for Research Science and Technology and New Zealand Forest Research Institute Ltd. The authors thank the members of the Wood Drying group, Ensis, Rotorua, New Zealand, for their help at various stages of this work.