Numerical Methods for Analysis of Energy Consumption in Drying Process of Wood

This chapter presents general aspects regarding the electromagnetic field in radio frequency and microwaves, the thermal field, mass problems in radio frequency drying, and the authors’ contributions to the numerical analysis of high frequency drying. The material used in numerical simulations is wood. Wood temperature control is very important due to cracks and loss of mechanical properties during drying. The properties of dielectric materials are very important when studying the interaction that takes place between the electromagnetic field energy and the material. The need to process and obtain products that meet market demands has led to the development of process modeling software that are aimed at simulating processes and physical phenomena as precisely and realistically as possible. In the research center (Center for Research and Technological Engineering in Electromagnetic Energy Conversion—CCITCEE) a Fortran software complex that couples electric, thermal, and mass and motion problems called FEM-BEM.3D-RF was developed. In the present study the drying process of wood was numerical simulated using FEM-BEM.3D-RF in radio frequency field and Comsol Multiphysics in microwave field.