ABSTRACT
Industrial wood drying processes include operational, geometrical, and raw material aspects (such as species origin and density, lumber grade, and initial moisture content). In industrial batch lumber kilns, thousands of boards are stacked in layers, separated by narrow strips of wood called displacement stickers, which allow air passage along both faces of the boards for drying. Even the wood stacks are perfectly homogenous and the airflow is totally uniform across their faces, the conditions change progressively through the parallel board layers and throughout the kiln-wide stack(s) in the airflow direction. The variations of lumber moisture content and air external conditions across the stack affect the final timber quality. The distribution of the drying air within the kiln is very important because it influences the drying kinetics as well as the heat and mass transfer process between the air and the lumber stack(s).
