Numerical and Experimental Validation of The Transient Heat And Mass Transfer During Heat Treatment Of Pine Wood

Abstract

In the current work, the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations along with the energy and concentration equations for the fluid coupled with the energy and mass conservation equations for the solid (wood) are solved to study the transient heat and mass transfer during the heat treatment of wood. The model for wood is based on Luikov's approach and solves a set of coupled heat and mass transfer equations. The model equations are solved numerically for the temperature and moisture content histories under different treatment conditions. The simulation of the proposed conjugate problem allows the assessment of the effect of the heat and mass transfer within wood on the transfer in the adjacent gas, providing good insight on the complexity of the transfer mechanisms. To generate data for comparison, measurements of temperature and moisture content of wood samples in a thermogravimetric system were conducted under different operating conditions. It is shown that the predicted and measured values compared very favourably, implying that the proposed numerical algorithm can be used as a useful tool in designing high-temperature wood treatment processes.

Key Words:

• Mathematical modelling
• Luikov's model
• conjugate problem
• hightemperature
• wood treatment
• heat and mass transfer
• validation

Additional information

Notes on contributors

R. Younsi

Ramdane Younsi is a professor at the applied science department of the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi.

D. Kocaefe

Duygu Kocaefe is a professor and head of the Thermo Transformation Research Group (GRTB), University of Quebec at Chicoutimi.

S. Poncsak

Sandor Poncsak is a professor at the applied science department of the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi.

T. Junjun

Duygu Kocaefe is a professor and head of the Thermo Transformation Research Group (GRTB), University of Quebec at Chicoutimi.