Air flow characteristics in an industrial wood pallet drying kiln

Abstract

The improvement and optimization of air-distribution systems in drying kilns contributes to the preservation of the quality, safety and shelf life of perishable products. The present study reports on the numerical solution of airflow within a two dimensional drying kiln enclosure loaded with wooden pallets. The performance of air flow field is examined with and without supply of wooden pallets. Different arrangements of the supplied wooden pallets are investigated as well as the use of a screen in order to improve the airflow filed. The steady state RANS equations that formulate the flow problem are solved along with a turbulence model that is the standard k-εor the rng k-ε. The effect of the turbulence modeling is distinguished through direct comparisons of the derived airflow patterns. The results obtained show the presence of stagnant zones inside the pallets columns and above of them and the presence of recirculation regions in different zones of the drying kiln with the two turbulence models.