APPLICATION OF A NUMERICAL-MODEL FOR PREDICTION OF MOISTURE MIGRATIONIN STORED GRAIN

Variations in ambient temperatures cause safe moisture contents of sto red grain to become unsafe due to migration or redistribution of moist ure within storage. This study uses a previously developed generalized numerical model of the moisture migration process, which can be used to predict the temperature, moisture, and natural convection air-flow distribution in stored grain. For the weather conditions of St. Paul, Minnesota, this numerical model is used to evaluate the effect of vari ous bin geometries and grain parameters on the moisture migration beha vior of stored corn and wheat. These predictions indicate that cooling of grain to 0 degrees C during the fall season can keep grain moistur es under stable conditions for the entire year. It also shows that moi sture migration occurs in all sizes of bins and it starts developing e arlier in the smaller bins.