RF drying of softwood lumber in collaboration with the Faculty of Wood Science in UBC

Mario Righi, Jonathan Herring and Wolfgang J.R. Hoefer

A time domain model for the RF drying of wood in a vacuum kiln is being developed. The model includes the following physical phenomena involved in the drying of wood:

• Electromagnetic field distribution in the wood and the surrounding kiln
• Energy deposition which increases the mobility of moisture in the lumber
• Heat transfer, and
• Mass transfer which in turn changes the dielectric properties of the wood.

The project aims at coupling all these phenomena in a self-consistent numerical model in space and time. Validation of the simulated results will be performed through the vacuum kiln available at UBC.