How Tightly a Kiln Can Be Stacked: A Load Density Limit Set by Temperature Spread Across the Setting

This paper addresses kiln operators who pack more ware into each firing to spread fuel costs, until uneven heating spoils the extra ware. It presents a maximum stacking-density rule derived from an allowable temperature spread, derived entirely from stated assumptions and a computation whose code and full output accompany the paper. The sweep covers stacking density as fraction of kiln volume occupied by ware from 0.15 to 0.75. The headline outcome is: best x 0.55; best profit usd 305.3; profit at densest usd 219.7; spread at best c 152.7; spread at densest c 263; good at best 937. These figures identify a specific operating point or bound that a workshop can apply directly, and they also show how quickly performance deteriorates away from it. No kiln was built, no ware was fired, and nothing was measured for this study. SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED.