numerical simulation of rough rice (ali-kazemi) kernel during drying

simulation of rough rice drying is one of the proper methods for predicting moisture distribution in the product, and throughout the process of drying. the drying process must be well understood and controlled so that design guidelines which reduce or minimize drying damage to rough rice can be established and improved. therefore, an accurate understanding and description of the drying mechanism must be implemented. finite element technique for formulation and solution of a set of coupled conductive heat and a diffusive moisture transfer equation to improve grain drying simulation of axisymmetric bodies is hereby employed. a long grain variety, ‘ali-kazemi’, was used for the study. during the thin layer drying, the drying air temperature and initial moisture content were 40?c and 32% (d.b.), respectively. moisture content was measured by minute. good agreement was observed when the output of the model compared to experimental data obtained by others. the root mean squre error (rmse) and modelling efficiency (ef) calculated from nonlinear model vs. experimental data, were 0.01 and 0.991, respectively. this shows that simulation data is close to the experimental ones, and the model can be used for moisture content simulation of rough rice drying. the simulated moisture profile and gradient are directly applicable to stress cracking analyses of rough rice. the results of the finite element analysis obtained can be used in rough rice quality evaluation as well as drying simulation studies.