Development of a Finiteelement Stored Grain Ecosystem Model

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An axisymmetric finiteelement model was developed that predicts the heat, mass, and momentum transfer thatoccurred in upright corrugated steel storage structures due to conduction, diffusion, and natural convection using realisticboundary conditions. Weather data that included hourly total solar radiation, wind speed, ambient temperature, and relativehumidity were used to model the temperature, moisture content, dry matter loss, and maize weevil development during storagewith no aeration, and with ambient and chilled aeration. Periods of aeration were simulated assuming a uniform airflow ratethrough the grain mass. Heat and mass balances were used to calculate the temperature and absolute humidity in theheadspace and plenum based on solar radiation, wind speed, ambient conditions, air infiltration, convective heat and masstransfer from the grain surface, and permeable boundaries that allowed natural convection currents to cross grain surfaces.A heat balance was used to estimate the wall temperature. The type of weather data in terms of solar radiation and frequencyof data appear to be important when predicting the grain temperature, moisture content, dry matter loss, and maize weevildevelopment.