A comparison of models and methods for simulating the microwave heating of moist foodstuffs

A comparison of models and methods for simulating the microwave heating of moist foodstuffs

We study the problem of heating a one-dimensional approximation to a slab-sided moist foodstuff in a microwave oven, allowing for a phase change and drying. We initially investigate the accuracy of the Lambert law of exponential decay of the applied electric field into the foodstuff and derive an ap...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of heat and mass transfer Vol. 54; no. 4; pp. 807 - 817
Main Authors: Budd, C.J., Hill, A.D.C.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 31-01-2011
Elsevier
Subjects:
Approximation
Biological and medical sciences
Decay
Electric fields
Food engineering
Food industries
Foodstuff
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Heating
Lambert law
Mass transfer
Mathematical analysis
Mathematical models
Microwave heating
Microwaves
Smoothed enthalpy method
Foodstuff
Smoothed enthalpy method
Microwave heating
Lambert law
Numerical simulation
Modeling
Water content
Drying
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Summary:We study the problem of heating a one-dimensional approximation to a slab-sided moist foodstuff in a microwave oven, allowing for a phase change and drying. We initially investigate the accuracy of the Lambert law of exponential decay of the applied electric field into the foodstuff and derive an approximation for the field comprising the exponential decay term and an oscillatory component. We then show that the temperature of the foodstuff is given, to a good approximation, by only considering the heating effects of the exponentially decaying field. We then study the effects of drying. This process changes the dielectric properties of the material, which leads to changes in the field. However, these lead to smaller changes in the moisture content. A fast and accurate numerical method is derived which relies on smoothing the phase transition.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:0017-9310
1879-2189
DOI:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2010.10.022