UC Davis

A stockpile heated and ambient air dryer (SHAD) was developed as an alternative to conventional almond windrow drying. Previous experiments showe that the drying air produced by SHAD was undesirably distributed through the almond stockpile. Therefore, an air distributor was developed containing 12 outlets, arranged in 4 rows of 3 outlets each. This study describes the comprehensive process of the air distributor design, manufacturing, and its optimization. The optimization process employed both computational fluid dynamics simulations and in-field airflow validation measurements. Initial 4-row air distributor in-field validation measurements indicated airflow distribution percentages were 4.1%, 30.8%, 44.9%, and 20.2% for the outlets in rows 1 through 4. This showed that almonds located around row 1 would not receive sufficient air to properly dry. Thus, an optimized 3-row air distributor configuration was developed and validated to yield an airflow distribution percentage of 31.3%, 44.4%, and 24.3% for outlets in the second to fourth rows, respectively. The 3-row air distributor configuration is therefore desirable, as the middle and tallest section of the stockpile will receive the highest airflow. The air distributor therefore markedly enhanced the SHAD's air supply distribution.