Hybrid mixture theory based moisture transport and stress development in corn kernels during drying: Validation and simulation results

The moisture transport and stress development mechanisms were elucidated for corn kernels using numerical solution of three-scale fluid transport equation. The 3D kernel structure was captured using micro-CT scanning and imported into finite elements package. The experimental drying profiles were predicted with reasonable accuracy (R² = 0.88-0.99 and CV = 3.5-9.5%). During simulations, the region with highest moisture content was observed to be away from the geometric center covering parts of soft-endosperm and germ. The high moisture flux was observed under the pericarp, in soft-endosperm toward top and in region connecting soft-endosperm and germ. The germ due to its lower moisture diffusivity in comparison to hard and soft endosperms, retained higher moisture and exhibited lower moisture flux. These observations agreed with previous magnetic resonance imaging based studies. Intermittent drying simulations indicated that fan on/off strategies with suitable time step-size would be a viable option for drying corn with lower stress-cracking and additional energy savings.