2-D hydro-viscoelastic model for convective drying of deformable and unsaturated porous material

The aim of this work was to simulate in two dimensions the spatio-temporal evolution of the moisture content, the temperature, the solid (dry matter) concentration, the dry product total porosity, the gas porosity, and the mechanical stress within a deformable and unsaturated product during convective drying. The material under study was an elongated cellulose–clay composite sample with a square section placed in hot air flow. Currently, this innovative composite is used in the processing of boxes devoted to the preservation of heritage and precious objects against fire damage and other degradation (moisture, insects, etc.). A comprehensive and rigorous hydrothermal model had been merged with a dynamic linear viscoelasticity model based on Bishop's effective stress theory, assuming that the stress tensor is the sum of solid, liquid, and gas stresses. The material viscoelastic properties were measured by means of stress relaxation tests for different water contents. The viscoelastic behaviour was described by a generalized Maxwell model whose parameters were correlated to the water content. The equations of our model were solved by means of the ‘COMSOL Multiphysics’ software. The hydrothermal part of the model was validated by comparison with experimental drying curves obtained in a laboratory hot-air dryer. The simulations of the spatio-temporal distributions of mechanical stress were performed and interpreted in terms of material potential damage. The sample shape was also predicted all over the drying process.     

Analysis of the Mechanism of Counter-current Spray Drying

Results of experimental investigations of the effect of drying and atomization parameters on counter-current spray drying are discussed. Based on 96 experimental tests, the local and global distributions of velocity, temperature, drying air humidity and moisture content of material dried in the drying tower were determined. Analysis of the results showed that the process of agglomeration during counter-current spray drying depended mainly on air temperature in the atomization zone.     

Numerical and experimental investigation of convective drying in unsaturated porous media with bound water

The heat and mass transfer in an unsaturated wet cylindrical porous bed packed with quartz particles was investigated theoretically for relatively low convective drying rates. Local thermodynamic equilibrium was assumed in the mathematical model describing the multi-phase flow in the unsaturated porous media using the energy and mass conservation equations to describe the heat and mass transfer during the drying. The drying model included convection and capillary transport of the free water, diffusion of bound water, and convection and diffusion of the gas. The numerical results indicated that the drying process could be divided into three periods, the temperature rise period, the constant drying rate period and the decreasing drying rate period. The numerical results agreed well with the experimental data verifying that the mathematical model can evaluate the drying performance of porous media for low drying rates. The effects of drying conditions such as the ambient temperature, the relative humidity, and the velocity of the drying air, on the drying process were evaluated by numerical solution.     

Investigation of grain mass flow in a mixed flow dryer

The numerical modeling of grain drying is a topic of great relevance to post-harvest engineering. The required type of drying process depends on the quantity of grain to be dried and the required quality of the grain. The choice of the drying system depends on the operating parameters of the drying process. The granular flow pattern of the material exerts a significant influence on the drying process. Post-harvest drying of grain is essential for better storage, handling, and processing. Therefore, it is important to know the material behavior that controls the particle flow patterns of grain in the drying equipment to guarantee the product quality and to optimize the drying process conditions. The discrete element method （DEM） was applied to investigate the particle flow pattern of wheat through a mixed-flow dryer （MFD） without airflow, and the findings were compared with experimental results in this work. The investigations were performed using dry wheat with 14 wb% moisture content.     

Investigation on rough rice drying kinetics at various thin layers of a deep bed

Moisture content gradients along the bed column are commonly neglected during simulation of deep-bed grain drying. In this study, rough rice drying kinetics at various thin layers of a deep bed was investigated. The experiments were conducted under different drying conditions and the data were compared with the values predicted by a previously developed non-equilibrium model for numerical simulation of grain drying. The moisture content gradients related to the rough rice column indicated that the higher the drying layer, the more was the moisture content at each drying time. The constant drying rate period was observed neither for any thin layers nor for the entire drying column. The drying rate of the lower layers continuously decreased with drying time, whereas that of the upper layers firstly increased and then decreased. The implemented model predicted drying process with a high accuracy at various layers. However, the values of maximum relative error (RE _max ) and mean relative error (MRE) increased as the air temperature increased, and reversely decreased with the air velocity. The higher values of MRE and RE _max were related to the layer 1 (0–5 cm bed height) at temperature of 60 °C and air velocity of 0.4 m s^?1, and the lower values belonged to the layer 4 (15–20 cm bed height) at temperature of 40 °C and air velocity of 0.9 m s^?1.     

Multiphase transfer model for intermittent microwave-convective drying of food: Considering shrinkage and pore evolution

Intermittent microwave convective (IMCD) drying is an advanced drying technology that improves both energy efficiency and food quality during drying. Although many experimental studies on IMCD have been conducted, there is no complete multiphase porous media model describing the physics of the process available in the literature. A multiphase porous media model considering liquid water, gases and the solid matrix of food during drying can provide in-depth understanding of IMCD process. Currently there is no IMCD model that have taken shrinkage and pore evolution during drying into consideration. In this study, first a multiphase porous media model with shrinkage (IMCD2) has been developed for IMCD. Then the model has been compared with IMCD model without shrinkage (IMCD1). Simulated temperature, moisture content, density, porosity from IMCD2 are then validated against experimental data. The profile of vapour pressures and evaporation during IMCD are also presented and discussed.     

Non-stationary drying of ceramic-like materials controlled through acoustic emission method

This paper presents results of convective drying of ceramic-like materials in non-stationary conditions. The effect of periodically changing drying parameters at different frequencies and amplitudes on material quality has been investigated. During drying tests the destruction of the material was controlled trough the acoustic emission method and monitored with a digital camera. The experiments were carried out on cylindrically shaped samples made of KOC kaolin clay. The non-stationary drying consisted in periodical changes of the drying medium temperature and humidity. It has been found that a properly arranged methodology of non-stationary drying positively affects the product quality, mainly when drying is carried on with periodical changes of air humidity and to lesser extent with periodical changes of air temperature.     

Combined resistance bubbling bed model for drying of solids in fluidized beds

Fluidized bed drying kinetics of highly porous material which offers free flow of moisture to surface of the material is modeled utilizing the simplified bubbling bed model. The simplification step utilizes estimation of the overall transfer resistance, by summing all the resistances from the bubble phase to the emulsion phase. The model predictions are compared with the published experimental data covering the operating variables such as the inlet air temperature, the air flow rate, material characteristics and are found to match satisfactorily. The model highlights the importance of bubble size estimation, as it largely dictates the drying kinetics.     

The vapour–liquid interface and stresses in dried bodies

The paper presents a contribution to modelling the problem of vapour–liquid interface receding into dried body and stresses induced by drying of capillary-porous bodies. A complex algorithm comprising the specific mechanisms of drying in the first and second periods of drying is constructed. It enables calculation and drawing of the body temperature and drying curves for the whole drying process and identification of the vapour–liquid interface receding into the body. The drying induced stresses caused by the receding vapour–liquid interface and the non-uniform distribution of moisture content and/or temperature are analyzed. Numerical calculations of the temperature and drying curves and the drying induced stresses are carried out for the example of a finite dimensional kaolin cylinder dried convectively.     

Fracturing of Clay During Drying: Modelling and Numerical Simulation

Non-uniform distribution of moisture contents inside of the porous materials during drying results in compressional stresses inside of the material and tensional ones close to the surface. The tensional stresses together with brittleness of dry material are the reasons of fracturing of the material. The proposed model consists of two parts. The mass transfer is described by simple diffusion equation. The mechanical behaviour of the material is modelled with the network model in which the material is modelled as the set of small particles interconnected elastically via springs. The spring constants and strengths depend on Young modulus and the material tensional strength. The dependences of these material parameters on the moisture content are determined. Then two 2D initial-boundary problems are solved. The results show possible way of cracks initiation and generation by drying.     

Drop trajectory predictions and their importance in the design of spray dryers

A knowledge of the trajectories of atomized droplets in both the nozzle zone (where the droplets are rapidly decelerating from their initial high velocity) and in the free-entrainment zone (where the droplets are conveyed by the drying gas) is required for the design of spray dryers, since it governs the evaporative capacity and thermal efficiency of the chamber, while affecting the moisture content and general quality of the product through the control of the drying time.

The trajectories of droplets in three-dimensional motion were determined theoretically in both zones. In the case of two-fluid pneumatic atomizers, the characteristics of the jet of atomizing fluid were found to be important in both the zones.

Predictions of droplet trajectories were tested in an experimental circular cocurrent spray-drying chamber with a conical bottom, in which the drying air was introduced tangentially near the top. Water was used as the feed material. A study was made of the effects of liquid feed rate and temperature, drying air flowrate and temperature, and of nozzle position on the thermal efficiency and evaporative capacity of the chamber. The results were interpreted in the light of the droplet trajectories predicted.     

真空环境中油水分离的试验研究

针对真空环境中油水分离问题,以真空滤油机为研究对象,构建了多参数实时耦合的油水分离试验系统,并利用Labview软件进行了数据的采集和处理。分析了油水分离的主要影响因素,结果表明,在试验参数范围内,水的初始含水率对脱水率的影响较大,真空压力和温度对脱水率呈单调变化的趋势,运行时间存在一个较优值30s。上述结果可为深入研究真空滤油机油水分离机理提供参考。     

Microwave drying of various shape particles suspended in an air stream

Fluidization is an efficient way to dry granular materials. Incorporating microwave heating into the fluidization makes the overall drying process shorter, and the quality of the final products can be improved. However, in order to understand the mechanisms of water removal, an exact knowledge of changes inside the dried material is necessary. The temperature and moisture distribution pattern within the heated material should be identified and analyzed. Unfortunately, the microwave environment makes the measurements very difficult. This paper gives new information on the temperature distribution inside small particles of various shapes dried with microwaves. The tests were carried out in a laboratory-scale, fluid-bed dryer equipped with a microwave source. Five different shapes were examined: sphere, cylinder, half-cylinder, rectangular prism, and prism with triangle base. All particles tested were suspended in an air stream and heated with microwaves. The internal temperature distribution has been analyzed in each case. The rate of drying is also presented and discussed for every case tested.     

Experimental study and modeling of particle drying in a continuously-operated horizontal fluidized bed

Multistage fluidized beds are frequently used for product drying in industry. One advantage of these fluidized beds is that they can achieve a high throughput, when operated continuously. In this study, γ-Al₂O₃ particles were dried in a pilot-scale horizontal fluidized bed, without considering any comminution effects. For each experiment, the particle moisture content distribution and residence time distribution were determined. To take into account particle back mixing in our experiments, a one-dimensional population balance model that considers particle residence time was introduced into a fluidized bed-drying model. Experimental particle residence time distributions were reproduced using a tank-in-series model. Subsequently, the moisture content distribution was implemented, as a second dimension to the population balance in this model. These two-dimensional simulations were able to describe the experimental data, especially the spread in the residual particle moisture distribution, much more accurately than one-dimensional simulations. Using this novel two-dimensional model, the effects of different operating parameters (process gas temperature, solid feed rate, superficial air velocity) on the particle moisture content distribution were systematically studied.     

Optimization of Fine Solid Drying in Bubble Fluidized Bed

A commonly used method to dry fine solid particles is drying in a fluidized bed. This paper presents the optimization problem of fluidized drying of fine solids. A drying process proceeding in a three-stage cascade of fluidized cross-current dryers was considered. Solid flows from stage to stage, and fresh gas is introduced to each stage of the cascade. The hydrodynamics of bubble fluidized bed and kinetics of heat and mass transfer are taken into account. The bed hydrodynamics is described by a two-phase model. The drying process considered proceeds in the second period of drying. To optimize this problem a generalized version of a discrete algorithm with constant Hamiltonian was used. The optimization procedure is presented in the paper. In optimization calculations, gas parameters (temperature, humidity and flow rate) minimizing total process cost are sought. The results of calculation are presented as graphs. The results obtained and the conclusions drawn are discussed.     

The effect of temperature and slice thickness on drying kinetics tomato in the infrared dryer

In this study thin layer drying of tomato slices were investigated in the infrared dryer. Drying rate increased with increasing temperature and reduction thickness and thus reduced the drying time. The effective diffusivity increased with increasing temperature and with increasing thickness of the samples. The effective diffusivity values changed from 1.094 × 10^?9 to 4.468 × 10^?9 m²/s and for activation energy varied from 110 to 120 kJ/mol. The best model for drying process of tomato slices was Midilli model.     

页岩气吸附解吸规律研究

页岩中天然气的吸附解吸规律是页岩气开发的基础。根据物质平衡原理,自行设计了页岩气吸附解吸实验装置。用该装置对取自鄂尔多斯盆地的三个页岩岩样在不同温度(30～90℃)、不同压力(0.1～10MPa)条件下,进行页岩气吸附及解吸规律研究。实验结果表明,吸附量随有机碳含量的增加而增大;随压力的增加吸附量增大,而随温度的增大吸附量减小。同一温度压力条件下,相对吸附过程而言,解吸过程有滞后现象,解吸不够彻底。对粘土含量较大的页岩,朗格缪尔模型拟合效果较差,而利用修正的双朗格缪尔模型可以得到较好的拟合结果。     

刹车条件对铁基粉末冶金材料摩擦磨损性能的影响

采用粉末冶金法制备某型号飞机用铁基刹车材料,研究了刹车条件对铁基刹车材料摩擦磨损性能的影响,利用光学显微镜观察铁基刹车材料表面及其磨损表面形貌,利用X射线衍射仪分析其组织的变化情况.结果表明:随着刹车条件(单位面积吸收能量)的增加,铁基刹车材料的摩擦系数减小,磨损量增大,摩擦表面温度升高;磨损前铁基刹车材料由粗大的细片层珠光体和块状铁素体组成,随着吸收能量的增加,细片层珠光体较使用前明显增多和细化;当刹车条件从正常着陆刹车变为超载着陆刹车时,其摩擦表面Fe的高价氧化物比例增大.     

A rigorous analysis of simultaneous heat and mass transfer in the pasta drying process

This study presents a two dimensional analysis of coupled heat and mass transfer during the process of pasta drying. Velocity and temperature distributions of air flowing around the pasta are predicted in steady state condition. Using these profiles and the similarity between heat and mass boundary layers, local convective heat and mass transfer coefficients were determined on different points of pasta surface. By employing these values, the solution of coupled heat and mass transfer equations within the pasta object in unsteady state condition was obtained. Furthermore the effects of operating conditions such as velocity, temperature and relative humidity of air flow on drying rate of pasta were studied. Sensitivity analysis results show that the effects of air temperature and relative humidity on the rate of drying are more important than the effect of air velocity. Finally, the results obtained from this analysis were compared with the experimental data reported in the literatures and a good agreement was observed while, no adjustable parameter is used in the presented model.     

Estimation of moisture transport coefficients in porous materials using experimental drying kinetics

From experimental drying kinetics, an inverse technique is used to evaluate the moisture transport coefficients in building hygroscopic porous materials. Based on the macroscopic approach developed by Whitaker, a one-dimensional mathematical model is developed to predict heat and mass transfers in porous material. The parameters identification is made by the minimisation of the square deviation between numerical and experimental values of the surface temperature and the average moisture content. Two parameters of an exponential function describing the liquid phase transfer and one parameter relative to the diffusion of the vapour phase are identified. To ensure the feasibility of the estimation method, it is initially validated with cellular concrete and applied to lime paste.