FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF MICROWAVE-HEATING OF SOLID FOODS

Microwave heating of solid food with rectangular and cylindrical geometries were analysed using TWODEPEP, a two-dimensional commercial finite element software. Absorbed microwave power density at any location in the test material was derived as a function of dielectric properties and geometry of the material. The model was experimentally validated by using sodium alginate gel as a test material. The temperature predictions by finite element analysis and the experimental measurements were very similar in slab-shaped samples. In cylindrical samples, the experimental data and the finite element predicted values of temperatures were close to each other at all regions except at the central region. Sensitivity analyses showed that variation in thermal diffusivity, dielectric properties, and incident microwave power resulted in significant variation in the temperatures as predicted by the finite element method.