AN APPLICATION OF FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS TO WOOD DRYING

Because of the nonhomogeneous and nonlinear properties of wood, exact solutions for heat and mass transfer are difficult to obtain by curren t methods of analysis. This work presents a numerical solution for the analysis of drying wood using the finite element method. A nonlinear model was established on a two-dimensional finite element grid structu re that considers local density variation. Through the finite element method of analysis of unsteady-state heat and moisture transfer in woo d, the dynamic profiles of temperature and moisture content were deter mined at a series of drying times. The resulting numerical solutions m atch well with experimental results and with published results. The re sults will help to extend understanding of wood-water and temperature relations. In future studies, these data can be incorporated into dryi ng stress analysis to analyze checking or warping.