Modeling Simultaneous Heat and Mass Transfer in an Isotropic Sphere-A Finite Element Approach

Afmite-element formulation is used to obtain numerical solutions to the simultaneous moisture and heat diffusion equations describing the moisture removal and heat intake process for an isotropic sphere. The model is used to solve a sample problem of drying a soybean kernel. The distribution and gradients of temperature and moisture dveloped inside the kernel during the drying process are established. The predicted drying curve for the soybean model compared favorably with experimental results in the literature. This technique is very powerful in explaining the complicated coupled phenomena of heat and mass transfer in general, and drying of biomaterials in particular.