Modeling of the Two-Dimensional Thawing of Logs in an Air Environment

A two-dimensional mathematical model has been created, solved, and verified for the transient nonlinear heat conduction in logs during their thawing in an air environment. For the numerical solution of the model, an explicit form of the finite-difference method in the computing medium of Visual FORTRAN Professional has been used. The chapter presents solutions of the model and its validation towards own experimental studies. During the validation of the model, the inverse task of the heat transfer has been solved for the determination of the logs’ heat transfer coefficients in radial and longitudinal directions. This task has been solved also in regard to the logs’ surface temperature, which depends on the mentioned coefficients. The results from the experimental and simulative investigation of 2D nonstationary temperature distribution in the longitudinal section of poplar logs with a diameter of 0.24 m, length of 0.48 m, and an initial temperature of approximately –30°C during their many hours thawing in an air environment at room temperature are presented, visualized, and analyzed.