A Sharp Drying Front Model

Abstract

The drying of materials is often described by nonlinear diffusion equations. Up to now the only way to solve these equations is by numerical simulations. Recently an analytic solution has been proposed for the drying problem. Based on this solution a sharp drying front model is presented. Measured moisture profiles during drying and the drying curve of gypsum are compared with approximate models.

Keywords:

• Analytic model
• Drying model
• Nonlinear diffusion

Acknowledgments

Part of this project was supported by the Dutch Technology Foundation (STW).