Articles
ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTIVE THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF A TWO-COMPONENT MODEL FOOD SYSTEM USING FINITE ELEMENT METHODS
Article number
566_50
Pages
391 – 396
Language
English
Abstract
Finite element numerical models were constructed to examine how the effective thermal conductivity (ke) of a material containing voids is affected by its structure.
The models were designed to simulate a perfectly insulated guarded hot plate performing thermal conductivity measurements on a theoretical food product.
Aspects of the food structure including void size and void shape were investigated.
Simulation results were fitted by two commonly used effective thermal conductivity models with adjustable parameters: Krischers model and the Effective Medium Theory (EMT). The sizes of the individual voids were found to have a minor influence on the ke which decreased as the void size increased.
A more significant influence on ke was the choice of structural model (hence void shape) that was used to represent the real food.
The EMT model provided better fits to the simulation data.
The models were designed to simulate a perfectly insulated guarded hot plate performing thermal conductivity measurements on a theoretical food product.
Aspects of the food structure including void size and void shape were investigated.
Simulation results were fitted by two commonly used effective thermal conductivity models with adjustable parameters: Krischers model and the Effective Medium Theory (EMT). The sizes of the individual voids were found to have a minor influence on the ke which decreased as the void size increased.
A more significant influence on ke was the choice of structural model (hence void shape) that was used to represent the real food.
The EMT model provided better fits to the simulation data.
Authors
J.K. Carson, D.J. Tanner, S.J. Lovatt, A.C. Cleland
Keywords
effective thermal conductivity, numerical modelling, voids in food products
Online Articles (73)