Structural Optimization 14, 232-241 ~) Springer-Verlag 1997

Optimization of the wood drying process

P. Carlsson and B. Esping
Department of Resource and Design Optimization, Mid Sweden University, S-831 25 Ostersund, Sweden

Abstract Modern optimization methods offer tools to create x set of design variables (i.e. Wk, T k and Ark, k
new, and to modify existing wood drying schedules. The total dry- 1,2,...,K)
ing time can be minimized, at the sazne time as both the moisture xj one of the design variables, j = 1 , 2 , . . . , 3K
content and the deformation after completed drying are within
acceptable limits. The stress levels during drying are also consid- y length coordinate
ered. Two numerical examples are carried out. z derivative constraint
small, positive number
A Lagrange multiplier
1 Introduction a stress
Wood, and specifically boards, must to be dried before be- O temperature inside the board
ing used. This report treats that drying process as an op-
timization problem. The goal is to produce a dry board, 1.2 Optimization
i.e. one with a moisture content that is below a certain level Consider a piece of wood in an environment that has a hu-
(10-20%). The deformation and surface check intensity, i.e. midity W ( t ) and a temperature T(t) (see Fig. 1).
relative check length, must be acceptable [see Carlsson et al.
(1996) for a brief summary]. W(t), T(t)
In this first approach, drying starts from a moisture con-
tent corresponding to to fibre-saturation point, i.e. ~ 30%.
This is motivated by the fact that shrinkage, with develop-
ment of strain and stress etc., occurs only below that point.
(Drying above the fibre-saturation point is pure water trans-
port with no shrinkage).

1.1 List of symbols Fig. 1. Environment humidity and temperature

D diffusion coefficient The environment humidity and temperature are assumed
E Hooke's matrix to vary in time according to the following figures (see Pigs.
F external loads 2a and b). A more popular description of the optimiza-
2- total number of constraints tion process is given by Carlsson et al. (1997). Wk, Tk, tk,
k counter k = 1 , 2 , . . . , K forms polygons in W , t, and T, t spaces,
K total number of time steps respectively.
L number of optimization iterations
M number of moisture content points and constraints W
N number of displacement points and constraints
~ZO, to)
P optimization problem
/5 optimization subproblem
S number of stress-points ( S * K = number of stress con-
straints
t time
z~t k length of time step at iteration k (design variable)
tK total drying time (-- EkK=IArk) =_ t
T air (dry) temperature
Fig. 2a. Humidity as a function of time
Tk air temperature at time step A t k (design variable)
u displacement Introduce A t k = t k -- tk_ 1 . It then follows that
w mositure content in board k
W air humidity tk = E A t n . (1)
Wk air humidity at time step At k (design variable)

T
(r~ tr)
/ The moisture content, the displacement and the stress will
/ be computed only in discrete points i, i = 1, I in the analysis
Fig. 2b. Temperature as a function of time
If Arm is perturbed by 6 then
Atn, k < m,
tk -- n=l (2)
k x e ( w k , Tk,Atk,
Atn+6, k>m.
n=l
(See Fig. 3).
_ t
Fig. 3. Consequences of perturbing At,~ by
The effect on the piece of wood after time t can be ex-
pressed in terms of w(t, x), 0(~, x), u(t, x), ~r(t, x), where x
represents the Euclidean space coordinate, w is the moisture
content, 0 is the temperature in the board, u the displace-
ment, and ~r the stress distribution inside the piece (see Fig.
4).
Fig. 4. Moisture, temperature, displacement and stress distribu-
tions inside the piece
The purpose of this work is to find the optimal environ-
mental wet and dry temperatures, i.e. humidity and tempera-
ture, as functions of time. There are many possible objective
and constraint functions. A reduction of the drying time t K
is of major importance and will therefore become the objec-
tive function. The criterion for being dry, that is that the
moisture content is below a certain level, will be the first
constraint. The second constraint will be on the deformation
of the piece at the end of the process. Finally, checks are not
233
accepted at any time. The stress level is used as a measure
of the tendency for checks. This will give an optimization
problem that is meaningful but limited enough to cope with.
model. These points can for instance be the node points or
element-integration points in a finite element model.
The size of the problem will be reduced somewhat more
as only the stresses at times tk; k = 1, K will be considered.
The optimization problem (P), defined above, will be
mathematically expressed as
(P): mintk,
such that
wi(tK, x)~_-~i, i = l , M , ui(tK,x)~_~i, i = l , N ,
qi(tk,x) <_Ki(tk,x), i = 1,S, k = 1,K,
where
k= l,K).
Where
tK is the time after which the piece of wood is com-
pletely dry, i.e. the moisture w is in every point i,
i -- 1, M below a certain limit ~ i ;
wi(tK, x) is the moisture content in a certain point, i, i =
1, M at the time tK;
wi is the accepted upper limit for the moisture content
when the piece is dry (t = tk);
ui(tK, x) is the displacement in a certain point i, i = 1, N
at the time tK;
~i is the accepted upper limit for the deformation in
a dry piece (t = tK);
~i(tk,x) is the stress in a certain point, i, i = 1,S at a
certain time tk, k -- 1, K;
Fi(tk,x ) is the accepted upper limit for the stress. This
material constant is dependent upon the level of
moisture as well as the temperature;
x is the set of design variables Wk, Tk, Atk; k =
1, K. At k are chosen as design variables instead
of t k in order to gain a more robust formulation.
Among the design variables defined above, the variables
W k and T k (i.e. humidity and dry temperature) are inter-
changeable with wet and dry temperatures since wet tem-
perature, dry temperature and humidity are coupled to each
other.
2 Analysis
Analysis constitutes the basis for optimization. The accuracy
of the optimization results depends upon the accuracy of the
analysis. There are three major parts in the analysis. Firstly
the moisture transport problem must be solved, i.e. w(t, x).
Secondly the heat conduction problem must be solved to find
the temperature distribution, i.e. 0(t, x). Thirdly, the struc-
tural problem must be solved, identifying the displacement
distribution u(t, x) and the stess distribution c~(t, x).
It seems reasonable to assume that the structural problem
can be considered to be one-way coupled to moisture trans-
portation and heat conduction, i.e. w and 6 affect u and c~
but not the reverse. The effect of taking the external loads
F ( t ) also into account is shown in Fig. 5.
234

w(t,x) i.'~l
Wka), Taw, tk(1)
u(t,x) k=l,K
O(t,x)
oft, x)
F(t)
create and solve
~(L)
Fig. 5. One-way influence on u, ~r

This means that it is possible to solve for w and 0 first

and then let them be input, together with external loads, for W~(L+O, Tk(L+O,
the structural problem which gives u and or. tk(L*O
The moisture transportation and the heat conduction are
coupled, i.e. w(O) and O(w). However, the heat transporta-
tion is much faster than the moisture transportation. It is no
therefore probably a good approximation to assume that also convergence)
the moisture and heat transportation can be decoupled. It is
yes
assumed that O(t, x) = T(t) in the case of moisture, i.e. there
Fig. 8. Iterative optimization process
are no temperature gradients but time-variants (see Fig. 6).
berg !987, 1993)]. MMA is based on the values of the ob-
jective function and the constraint functions and on their
W(t) derivatives with respect to the design variables at the point
w(x, 0 x(L). MMA has been used with great success in a variety of
examples from structural, fluid-flow, and acoustic optimiza-
O(x, 0 = T(t) tion (see Esping 1995).
The following function values and derivatives must then
be calculated:
Fig. 6. Decoupled moisture and heat transportation
' \axj] ' j=I'aK' (3)
Finally, the complete flow of data is as shown in Fig. 7.

' \ Oxj ] ' j=I'3K' i=l,M, (4)

T(t)
W(t) ' \ Oxj /] ' j=I'3K' i=l,N, (5)
I
O(t,x) = T(t) I
r ' \-~xj/ ' j=I'3K' i=l,S, k=l,K. (6)
F(t) l w(t,x) It is also possible to use approximations based on higher-
\ / order derivatives. However, the computational effort will in-
crease dramatically for each iteration. The number of itera-
tions may be reduced but the total cost to solve P usually
u(t,x), oft, x) increases considerably. Second-order derivatives are for eco-
nomical reasons not used. MMA considers the passed iter-
ation history in order to improve the first-order approxima-
Fig. 7. Complete data flow for isotherm temperatures
tions.

3 Optimization 4 Derivatives

The optimization process is iterative. In each iteration L a ~.1 Time derivatives

convex subproblem/5(L) is generated and solved; ]5(L) is an The total time is
K
approximation to P around the design point x(L). The solu-
tK = (7)
tion to/5(L) gives a new design point x ( L + l ) . If P is locally
k=l
convex the solutions to the subproblem/5(L) will converge to The derivatives with respect to the design variables x are
a local optimum (see Fig. 8).
OtK = ~" 1, xj = At k for all time variables,
Convex approximation methods are used to optimize the (s)
drying process [MMA, method of moving asymptotes (Svan- Oxj [ O, xj = W k or T k .
 235

4.2 Moisture derivatives 5 Constraint selection

The derivatives of the moisture in the points i, i = 1, M at Altogether there will be M moisture content, N displacement
the final time t K can be derived by finite differences, and K * S stress constraints. The gradient ~7f, where f is
OWiK wi(tK, z + 5xj) -- wi(tK, x) the objective function or one of the constraints, will have the
Ozj 5zj ' length 3K (i.e. the number of design variables).
Experience in structural optimization shows that the
j = I,3K, i = l , M . (9)
number of constraints that will be critical is much smaller.
For xj, i.e. one of Atj, or Wj or Tj there will be an The number of selected constraints for the MMA approxima-
influence on w only for time t > t j_ 1. tion and solver can therefore be greatly reduced. Approxi-
The integration over the time t can thus start at t = t j_ 1 mately 3K constraints must be selected.
using the already derived w(tj_l, z) as the initial value. It should be noted that the maximum stress does not
The total computational cost for all derivatives will be- necessarily appear at the end of the drying process (see Fig.
come approximately ( 1 + 3 / 2 K ) times the cost for one analysis 9).
(the figure 1 comes from the undisturbed calculation and the
figure 3/2K from the cost of calculations with 3K variables).
Let us assume that K = 50, i.e. 3K = 150 design vari-
ables giving a factor of 76. This number is to be multiplied by
the number of iterations for convergence in the optimization
process. From the fields of structural and fluid flow optimiza-
tion there is usually a convergence within 10 iterations (see
Esping et al. 1986, 1993). If the same convergence speed is
assumed, the total cost would be about 760 times the total
cost for one single analysis.

4.3 Displacement derivatives l__t

The derivatives of displacements in the points i, i = 1, N at tx
the final time t K are derived similarly,
Fig. 9. Stress as a function of time
OUiK ui(tK, x -k 5xj) -- ui(tK, x)
Oxj 5zj '
j=I,3K, i=l,M. (10) 6 Convergence criteria
In this case, the global deformation behaviour in terms of
cup, twist, checks, and bow deformations is of interest. It is hoped that there will be a convergence to a feasible
solution. It is most likely that the total drying time t K will
A global deformation can be expressed as
converge to something similar to the curve in Fig. 10.
di(tK, z ) = q Ti .u(tK, x), i= l,N, (11)
where q is a vector with nonzero elements in the positions tx
corresponding to the corners and/or midpoints of the edges
of the board and u is the complete vector of node-point dis-
placements.

4.4 Stress derivatives

The stresses and their derivatives are computed for each in-
termediate time tk, k = 1,K(t k = ~ i k= 1 Ati)" The deriva-
tives are

Ozj 5zj '

No. of iterations
j = I,3K, i= l,S, k= l,K. (12)
Fig. 10. Convergence curve for the objective function
There will only be an effect on stresses for times greater
than the time tj corresponding to design variable x j, The constraints, for example the maximum stress Omax,
#0, j_<kandxj is one of could yield a convergence curve as given in Fig. 11. A crite-
rion for convergence is (I)
_ (13)
Oxj O, j > k and zj is one of
tj,Wj,Tj. t(L_l ) _< r (14)
Thus, the time integration can start from t = tj_ 1 using ~vk

cri(tj_l, x) as initial values. where r is 0.01 - 0.001 and all constraints are feasible.
236

O " m ox
7.2 FEM program for moisture transportation
A 1D program is used to solve the transient moisture prob-
lem. The 9 linear elements used are located in the middle of
the board as shown in Fig. 13. The moisture is calculated for
~ O" the 8 numbered points in the same figure.

j -
No. of iterations
Fig. 11. Convergence curve for the stress constraint Fig. 13. FEM elements for moisture transportation and number-
ing of moist points
A more difficult criterion is the convergence for all design
variables x j , j = 1, 3K, (II) The diffusion coefficient D in the moisture equation
x(L-1) Ow _ 0 ( D CgW~ (17)
x! L ) - j Ot Oy \ Oy ] '
< ~, j = 1,3K, (15) where y is a length coordinate according to Fig. 13, is
.(L-l) -
3 given a linear temperature dependence (otherwise temper-
and all constraints are feasible. ature changes will have no effect on the total drying time).
A more mathematicM criterion for the optimum is (III) The driving force for the transportation are the differences
I in moisture concentration in the board.
Vt k + E ~i . Vg i = 0, (16) As mentioned earlier, drying in this first approach always
i=1 starts from a moisture content corresponding to the fibre-
and all constraints are feasible; gi represents all constraints saturation point, i.e. ~ 30%.
and Ai >- 0 (the so-called Lagrange multipliers); i = 1 , I
where I is the total number of constraints (i.e. I = M + N + 7.3 FEM program for the structural problem
K'S). The structural problem is a 2D program (see Ormarsson and
Dahlblom 1994). The board is modelled with a single su-
7 Numerical results per element with linear and cubic approximating polynomial
functions for the vertical and horizontal sides of the board
The theory described in the previous sections has been im-
(see Fig. 14).
plemented with the MMA optimization routine and two pro-
grams for solution of the moisture-transportation and struc-
tural problems. These two programs, developed by Dr. Ola
Dahlblom, Division of Structural Mechanics, Lund Univer-
sity (see Ormarsson and Dahlblom 1994; Dahlblom and Or-
marsson1994), uses the finite element method to solve both
problems. The transient solution from the programs gives
the moisture content, displacement, and stress distribution
for each time step. Fig. 14. FEM model for structural calculation

7.1 Data for board studied It is possible to vary the dimensions and the orientation
The cross-section of the board studied is given in Fig. 12. The of the dried board. The wood material is modelled as an
material parameters for moisture transportation and strength orthotropic material with main directions in the radial, tan-
are based on Norway spruce (picea abies). gential, and longitudinal directions. The elastic parameters,
the coefficients of shrinkage/swelling, and the parameters for
mechano-sorptive movements vary with the orthogonal direc-
i tions. (The so-called mechano-sorptive strain occurs when a
piece of wood under load starts to creep under varying hu-
midity). The influence of temperature and moisture content
is considered for the moduli of elasticity and the influence
of temperature for the mechano-sorptive parameters and the
! i
fibre-saturation point. The total strain rate ~ is assumed
to be the sum of the elastic strain rate ~e, moisture strain
rate gw, and mechano-sorptive strain rate ~w~ (usual creep
Pith I is assumed to be significantly smaller and is consequently
Fig. 12. Cross-section of board studied with pith location neglected), i.e.
k = ke + k w + ~ w ~ . (18)
 237

The elastic strain rate ~e and the moisture strain rate ~w
are both linear components. The mechano-sorptive strain
rate ~wa is assumed to be given by
tw~ = m ~ l w l , (19)
as presented by Santaoja et al. (1991). [Other relations are
given by Salin (1992) and Svensson (1995)]. In (19) I~bl de-
notes the absolute value of the rate of change of the moisture
content and K is the stress. The matrix ~ is the mechano-
sorptive matrix, where the elements depend on the tempera-
ture.
The stress rate is expressed as
= E~, (20)
where E is the Hooke matrix. Substitution of the expression
for the total strain into the last equation gives
& = E ~ - &0, (21)
where &0 is a pseudo-stress vector which describes the effect
of moisture change and is given by
a0 = E(~w + k ~ w ) . (22)
The structural problem is solved as a plane problem where
the longitudinal stress component c~l is assumed to be zero.
The stresses are calculated in eight points in the middle of
the board with the same location as the moisture points (see
Fig. 13). Only tangential stresses are calculated.
7.4 Optimization in numerical implementation
To ascertain how the optimization works, two different ex-
amples are given.
(1) Optimization from a very rough initial drying schedule
with a constant temperature curve and a slightly rising
wet bulb depression.
(2) Optimization from a more realistic initial drying schedule,
but with sharpened cup and stress constraints.
Cup, i.e. point of greatest deflection
i Initial Drying Schedule
such that
wi(tK, x) <_-wi, i = 1 , 8 , cup _<cup,
~i(tk,z)<_-~i, i = 1 , 8 k = 1 , 4 8 ,
where
~ (Wk,Tk, ~ t k , k = 1, 48). (23)
The size of the optimization problem will therefore be 8
moisture constraints, one deformation constraint and 8*48 =
384 stress constraints, i.e. in M1 393 contraints. The number
of design variables are 3 * 48 = 144.
To imitate the time-consuming heating of the wood
stacks, the maximum values of the dry temperatures are lim-
ited to a linear rising curve during the first half of the drying
process. Maximum and minimum temperatures are set to
75~ and 45~ respectively. The wet bulb depression is
maximized to 20~ To obtain a stable performance of the
optimization, the maximum change of wet and dry tempera-
tures is maximized to 3~ between each iteration.
The constraints were given the following values:
9 maximum final moisture wi (for each moist point, see Fig.
1)
~ i = 11.25%, i = 1,8;
9 maximum final deformation (c---~),
cup = 1.2 mm;
9 maximum allowed (positive) tangential stress ~ of each
stress point and in each time step
= 10.0 MPa.
In this first approach, the variation of fracture strength with
temperature and moisture content is not considered [such cal-
culations were, however, performed by Carlsson (1997)].
An initial rough drying schedule provides input data for
the optimization (see Fig. 16). Initially all time steps are
equal. The dry-temperature curve is constant and the wet
bulb depression-curve rises slowly.
8O
(..I
Q., 1 1 J L_~
......... Dry Temperature L
7O
o . . . . wet Bulb Depression |
Average Moisture Content ]

Fig. 15. Illustration of cup

e-
~ 311 ~,..~.,....._,_
For the numerical calculations, the deformation con-
straints are somewhat reformulated. The deformation con- ~ 2o
w
straint is measured in a global way with the so-called cup
deformation (see the definition in Fig. 15).
Stress and moisture are calculated in eight points in the oi0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
middle of the board and optimization is carried out with K =
time [h]
48 time steps in both examples.
Criterion (I) in Section 6 is chosen as the convergence Fig. 16. Initial drying schedule for Example 1
criterion. The parameter ~ is given the value 0.01.
This initial schedule gives the moisture-distribution his-
7.4.1 Example 1. Optimization from a rough, initial drying tory shown in Fig. 17. The moisture distribution in the last
schedule. With the above-described modification of the de- time step is far from the stipulated moisture constraint (i.e.
formation constraint, the optimization problem (pI) for the < 11.25%).
first numerical implementation will be formulated as follows: After optimization, the drying schedule has the shape
(pI) : mintK, shown in Fig. 18.
238

Moisture Content History, Moisture Content History,

Initial Schedule Optimized Schedule
30 f

20 ~2g

:E 15 Time step nr
,-
o J ~..-~f'- ~ \\\
T i m e step nr
0
--10 10
10 20 t0 ~ .~*-~-"-- -- 20
! 30 30
4O 40
5 48 5 48
Moist. Constr. Moist. Constr.
0 t,, , , , , . . . . . . . . . . . . i .... i .... (} , , , , ,,, J ,, . . . . . . . , , I,, , ,I , , , ,
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Moisture Point Moisture Point

Fig. 17. Moisture content history from initial drying schedule Fig. 19. Moisture content history from optimized drying schedule

Optimized Drying Schedule History of Total Drying Time

350
80

.~
Q. r162
E 300
u) 70

~60 .:~
o
""*"
1..........1.........l .........1
......... Dry Temperature
. . . . . . . . . .

~"
i.=
,s
Wet Bulb Depression
E"
=~'50 :.o,,"" Average Moisture Content
a

~ 40 15~~( ~ ' ~ . ,._ ~-~..~

e-
8 3~
100
= 20
50
10 Z~-"'

0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . '' " "

0 ............ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
O 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
t i m e [h] Iteration nr

Fig. 18. Optimized drying schedule for Example 1 Fig. 20. History of total drying time. Example 2, optimization
from a more realistic initial drying schedule
The initially constant dry-temperature curve has changed
to one that rises as rapidly as possible to the maximum tem- changes in the formulation of the optimization problem are
perature. The same happens to the wet bulb depression made. The constraints are at this time given values as fol-
curve. The moisture-distribution history of the optimized lows:
drying schedule is given in Fig. 19. No other constraints are 9 maximum final moisture wi (for each moist point, see Fig.
active at any time step of this example. In the last time 1)
step (the 48-th), the moisture content is equal or below the w---/= 11.25%, i = 1, 8;
allowed 11.25%. This also produces a much lower average 9 maximum final deformation (c--uTp),
moisture content, a decrease from about 20% to 10%, but no cup = 1.0 mm;
constraint is put on the average moisture content. 9 maximum allowed (positive) stress ~ of each stress point
The history of the objective function, i.e. the total dry- and in each time step
ing time, is given in Fig. 20. A closer study of the design F = 4.5 MPa.
variables in different'iterations reveals that the optimization The initial drying schedule, this time closer to a real dry-
routine starts by increasing the length of the time steps to ing schedule, is given in Fig. 21.
retain the moisture constraint. This is of course not the most After optimization, the drying schedule takes on the shape
efficient way to minimize the total drying time, so after the shown in Fig. 22. This optimized schedule gives sharp
fourth iteration the optimization routine starts to increase changes of the wet bulb depression in the beginning of and
the dry temperatures and the wet bulb depression. This in at the end of the drying process.
turn increases the moisture transportation rate, making it The wet bulb depression increase in the beginning of the
possible t o decrease the length of the time steps. drying process gives fast moisture transportation. The in-
7.4.2 Example 2. Optimization from a more realistic ini- crease is kept back only by the stress constraints. The reason
tial drying schedule. The second example is performed with for the decrease at the end of the process is commented on
sharpened cup and stress constraints. To start with, no later.
 239

Initial Drying Schedule Optimized Drying Schedule II

80 /
80
,...o-'~ O
Q.
/
70
~176176176149176 70 ~9 t* t.........
I.................t
~6o ,,.~176176
,.~176176176
==
~ 8o ,,.*; ....
Dry Temperature
Wet Bulb Depression
t
= ......... F-...... D;~Te~pera~ur. Average Moisture Content
=~ 50 :.~..,.,. " ~ ..... |
|
9 Wet Bulb Deprasion
Average Moisture Content
~6o f
'~ 40 ~
r-
~ 30 ~

._~ ~ ~ ...
~ 20
.~_ !
~
.J %
0 """-' '"""" '";" ..... ' ................. ~.:~:'
0 ,,,, r,,,ll,l,i ,,i,i ,,,,ll,,,: .... ,
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 0 20 4O 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
time [h] time [h]
Fig. 21. Initial drying schedule for Example 2 Fig. 23. Optimized drying schedule II

Optimized Drying Schedule I In the optimized drying schedule II, sharp changes no
longer appear, but the decrease of wet bulb depression in
80
U the last part of the drying process remains. The explanation
o 70 o . . S ................... ' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . follows from the graph in Fig. 24 where the last steps of the
~8o ,.."*"" -~ .... Wet Bulb Depression
cup history are shown.
iO40O~Oq I Average Moisture Content
~50 Cup History for Last Time steps in
~ 40 Optimized Drying Schedule II
1.0200

///
E

~ 20 ~"-"--
1.0100

1.0000
10 ,-
: %1"~' 7 0.9900
0 ....................... , ,,~, ,,,, ,,,,
0 20 40 80 80 100 120 140 180 180 200
0.9800
time [h]
0.9700
Max cup: 1.0 mm ~__
Fig. 22. Optimized drying schedule I
0.9600
It is difficult to achieve such sharp changes of wet bulb
depression in a common dry kiln. In order to gain better 0.9500

control over the changes of temperature and wet bulb de- 0.9400
pression, complementary derivative constraints are added to 38 39 40 4t 42 43 44 48 46 47 48
the previous constraints. After this modification, the new time s t e p nr.
optimization problem (pII) is formulated as follows: Fig. 24. Cup history for the last time steps in the optimized
(pII) : mintk, drying schedule

such that During the last time steps, just prior to the end of the
wi(tK,x)<_~i, i = 1 , 8 , cup < c u p , drying process, the cup constraint is violated. To satisfy this
~i(tk,z)_<Ki , i = 1 , 8 , k----1,48, constraint, the optimization routine rMses the air humidity.
This will "straighten up" the board in as much as the curved
~ <_-il, k=1,48, layers in the board (year rings) have different shrinkage co-
efficients. The board reacts to moisture changes in a similar
OWk I _<~2,
OAtk k=1,48, manner to a piece of bi-metM exposed to varying tempera-
tures.
where The raised humidity will also have an effect on the mois-
xE(W k,Tk,At k, / c = 1, 48). (24) ture gradient in the very last time steps. The graphs of the
The added derivative constraints are calculated with fi- moisture-content history are shown in Figs. 25 and 26.
nite differences. The (absolute) value for the derivatives, z 1 As a consequence of optimization toward harder demands
and z2, are both give the value 3.0~ and 3.0%/hour, on cup and stress constraints, the drying schedule also creates
respectively. a dry board with a more even moisture gradient (the opposite
Starting from the initial drying schedule used in Exam- remains to be shown). The decrease in wet bulb depression at
ple 2, the optimization process for pII converges after 18 the end of the drying process has a practical correspondence.
iterations to the drying schedule shown in Fig. 23. The common method for equMizing the moisture distribution
240

M o i s t u r e C o n t e n t History, Cup Constraint History

O p t i m i z e d D r y i n g S c h e d u l e II

~'30 ....,..,......- . . . . . . . . . . ....,......,

25
o .s" . "k. 0.8
Q
20 .~ .f
9%.% "~
O s" 0.6
~t5 i" Time step nr
/* .r" .......~--- ~ ---~ 0
,-" 10 11.4
10 20
30
40 0.2
Moist. Constr.
, , , , , , , , . . . . . . . . . . . . ] .... I .... 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Iteration nr
Moisture Point
Fig. 27. Cup constraint history
Fig. 25. Moisture content history for the time steps 0 to 40

Stress Constraint History

M o i s t u r e C o n t e n t History,
O p t i m i z e d D r y i n g S c h e d u l e II

30 I I
Time step nr
4O
25 ............. 4 4
48
Moist. Constr.

'"- ............. ".................... i " ' ,

10

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 t 3 14 15 16 17 18
0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1 2 3 4 5 6 Iteration nr
Moisture Point Fig. 28. Stress constraint history
Fig. 26. Moisture content history for the time steps 40 to 48
History of Total Drying Time
in the board uses exactly the same routine. This "condition-
ing treatment" is carried out with raised humidity at the end
of the drying process. Theory and practical experience have .E 300
given the same results.
Optimization histories for cup and stress constraints are .r 250

shown in Figs. 27 and 28.

200~ ~ I~
As shown in Figs. 27 and 28, both the cup and stress
constraints are exactly fulfilled at the end of the optimization i- t5o
process.
The optimization history for the objective function, i.e.
the total drying time, is given in Fig. 29.
50
The time history for Example 2 is approximately the same
as for Example 1. A closer look at the design variables in 0 ........ " ...............................................................
different iterations reveals the same pattern as in Example 1. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 0 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 t 8
Iteration nr
Fig. 29. History of total drying time
8 Further developments
The optimization results in this report are valid only for one Check constraints are represented by stress constraints
single board with very special properties. This is of course far in this article. Alternatively the strains - either principal
from the mixture of boards in a dry kiln. The restriction can, strains or strains expressed along and across the fibre direc-
however, be avoided by considering several different boards tion might be used. Strain criteria are common in advanced
simultaneously, and designing a drying process that is opti- fibre-composite applications.
mal for the whole set of boards (see Esping ct al. 1993). It is hoped that a better failure criterion will be developed

to replace the simple stress criterion. Statistical distribution
of material properties, in combination with constraints on the
probability for failure, is another possible future extension.
9 Life before and after the drying process
If the growth stresses axe known they can be used as initial
values in the time integration for the stresses.
The stresses can also be integrated beyond the drying
time t K to check for stress peaks due to nonuniform moisture
distribution or due to external loads.
10 Stream treatment
A theoretical investigation and optimization of a steam treat-
ment at the beginning of the drying process can later be in-
cluded in the model.
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