ABSTRACT
Predicting internal stress distribution in food and food breakdown or swallowing through the mastication process using computer simulations and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is advantageous in the food industry. This chapter focuses on the application of computer simulations and CFD to food texture and oral processing. The most commonly used numerical methods for computer simulation to analyze food texture are classified into the finite element method, the finite volume method, the meshless method, and the discrete element method. Human mastication of food products can be regarded as a complex mechanical process leading to food particle breakdown. Because of its importance in the other degradation steps, understanding such a process depends on our ability to address fracture mechanisms that are associated with mastication. Thus, in several crispy products, food breakdown operates following the idea of the opening mode, which requires local tension loading and the presence of a defect for crack propagation.
