NUMERICAL-SIMULATION OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLE REFRIGERATION PROCESSES

Finite Volume method (F.V.M.), using the ADI algorithm, is proposed for the simulation of fruit and vegetable refrigeration processes. Main advantages of F.V.M. are described when compared with the today most used technique, the Finite Element method. To evaluate F.V.M. performance three examples, whose analytical solutions are well stated, have been examined, obtaining very little errors between F.V.M. predicted temperatures and analytical ones, even using high sampling times.