Theory of transport processes in wood below the fiber saturation point. Physical background on the microscale and its macroscopic description

Holzforschung ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Eitelberger ◽  
Staffan Svensson ◽  
Karin Hofstetter

Abstract The macroscopic formulation of moisture transport in wood below the fiber saturation point has motivated many research efforts in the past two decades. Many experiments demonstrated the difference in steady state and transient moisture transport and the inadequacy of models derived for steady state transport when used to describe transient processes. A suitable modeling approach was found by distinguishing between the two phases of water in wood, namely bound water in the cell walls and water vapor in the lumens. Such models are capable of reproducing transient moisture transport processes, but the physical origin of the coupling between the two phases remains unclear. In this paper, the physical background on the microscale is clarified and transformed into a comprehensive macroscopic description, ending up with a dual-scale model comprising three coupled differential equations for bound water, water vapor, and internal energy, as well as a simplified microscale model for determination of the coupling term.

2011 ◽  
Vol 312-315 ◽  
pp. 455-459
Author(s):  
Johannes Eitelberger ◽  
Karin Hofstetter

During the last two decades the macroscopic formulation of moisture transport in wood below the fiber saturation point has motivated many research efforts. From experiments the difference in steady-state and transient transport processes is well known, but could not be explained in a fully physically motivated manner. In the following article, first the microstructure of wood is depicted, followed by a description of the physical background of steady-state and transient transport processes in wood, and thereon based mathematical formulations. For a correct macroscopic description of transient transport processes, three coupled differential equations have to be solved in parallel, which is done using the finite element method. The validation of the whole model by comparison of model predictions with experimentally derived values is currently in progress and will be published in near future.


Holzforschung ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ville-Veikko Telkki ◽  
Miikka Yliniemi ◽  
Jukka Jokisaari

Abstract Distributions of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation times provide detailed information about the moisture absorbed in wood. In this work, T2*, T2, and T1 distributions were recorded from fresh sapwood and heartwood samples of pine (Pinus sylvestris) and spruce (Picea abies) at various temperatures. Below the melting point of bulk water, free water is frozen and its signal disappears from the distributions. Then, the low-temperature distributions of the unfrozen bound water contain more information about its components, because the large free water peaks hiding some smaller bound water peaks are absent and the exchange between free and bound water is prevented. Comparison of the total moisture signal integrals above and below the bulk melting point enables the determination of fiber saturation point (FSP), which, in this context, denotes the total water capacity of cell wall. T2*, T2, and T1 distributions offer different kinds of information about moisture components. All the peaks in the distributions were assigned, and it was demonstrated that the accessible hydroxyl site content and the amount of micropores can be estimated based on the peak integrals.


Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1279
Author(s):  
Chenyang Cai ◽  
Fanding Zhou ◽  
Jiabin Cai

The physical and mechanical properties of thermally modified wood (TMW) have been comprehensively studied; however, the quantitative analysis of water states and cell wall pores of TMW is limited. In this work, Douglas fir and Norway spruce were thermally modified at 180, 200 and 220 °C, and then studied by NMR cryoporometry method. The results show that thermally modified samples had lower fiber saturation point and the bound water content than the reference samples at all the experimental temperatures, indicating the reduced hygroscopicity due to thermal modification (TM). In addition, TM decreased number of hygroscopic groups, which can be implied by the decreased proportion of bound water sites, and TM also increased the proportion of small voids for bound water clusters. An increase in TM intensity resulted in lower bound water content and a smaller number of hygroscopic groups. In summary, the NMR method detected the water states and pore size distribution and confirmed that TM decreased the fiber saturation point and hygroscopicity of wood by reducing the bound water content and proportion of bound water sites in wood cell walls.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 11109-11142 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.-M. Ryoo ◽  
D. E. Waliser ◽  
E. J. Fetzer

Abstract. The origins and pathways of air masses leading to heavy rainfall over the west coast of the United States are examined by computing the back-trajectories in a Lagrangian quasi-isentropic trajectory model. Extreme precipitation over the west coast of the United States often coincides with transport in a deep and narrow corridor of concentrated water vapor band from the ocean, commonly referred to as Atmospheric Rivers (ARs). They also occur in conjunction with moisture plumes emanating from the tropics, or along the mid-latitude storm track. However, the actual moisture sources and the dynamic and thermodynamic processes of the moisture transport, are still unclear. Trajectories are found to be insensitive to the reanalysis data set used; we examined NCEP, GMAO MERRA, and ECMWF ERA-Interim. Reconstructed water vapor mixing ratios along trajectories are in generally good agreement among the reanalysis datasets in most of the subtropics and extratropics, indicating that the large-scale circulation is a primary control for moisture transport over those regions. Clustering and pdf (probability density function) analyses illustrate that trajectories over the west coast of United States have different origins. One group of trajectories (cluster 1) originates in the warm part of extratropical cyclones in the low level. The other group of trajectories (cluster 2) originates in the cold and dry regions in the mid-level (pressures less than 600 hPa) over northeastern Asia, then cross the Pacific Ocean. This study demonstrates that the quasi-isentropic Lagrangian trajectory model and clustering analysis (that have been typically used to analyze trajectories in the upper troposphere and higher altitudes) can be used to examine sources of air masses and moisture, and also associated transport processes in the lower troposphere.


2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (23) ◽  
pp. 7273-7280 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Flury ◽  
S. C. Müller ◽  
K. Hocke ◽  
N. Kämpfer

Abstract. The Institute of Applied Physics operates an airborne microwave radiometer AMSOS that measures the rotational transition line of water vapor at 183.3 GHz. Water vapor profiles are retrieved for the altitude range from 15 to 75 km along the flight track. We report on a water vapor enhancement in the lower mesosphere above India and the Arabian Sea. The measurements took place on our flight from Switzerland to Australia and back in November 2005 conducted during EC- project SCOUT-O3. We find an enhancement of up to 25% in the lower mesospheric H2O volume mixing ratio measured on the return flight one week after the outward flight. The origin of the air is traced back by means of a trajectory model in the lower mesosphere and wind fields from ECMWF. During the outward flight the air came from the Atlantic Ocean around 25 N and 40 W. On the return flight the air came from northern India and Nepal around 25 N and 90 E. Mesospheric H2O measurements from Aura/MLS confirm the transport processes of H2O derived by trajectory analysis of the AMSOS data. Thus the large variability of H2O VMR during our flight is explained by a change of the winds in the lower mesosphere. This study shows that trajectory analysis can be applied in the mesosphere and is a powerful tool to understand the large variability in mesospheric H2O.


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