Implementation of a relaxation equilibrium term in the convective boundary condition for a better representation of the transient bound water diffusion in wood

In this work, a relaxation term was added to the convective boundary condition to increase the accuracy of the transient bound water diffusion modeling in wood. The implemented term accounts for a relaxation time constant in the equilibrium moisture content. The inverse finite element analysis approach was used to determine the values of all coefficients of the modified diffusion model. This procedure was performed for beech wood (Fagus sylvatica L.) in the radial and longitudinal directions. The experimental data obtained by Perré et al. (2007) for transient diffusion configurations were used here. The accurate control of moist air parameters and the improved procedure for mass measurements of a sample during sorption experiments were used. The influence of the modification of the boundary condition on accuracy of diffusion modeling was analyzed.