Behavior of shrinkage and porosity changes along with simultaneous
heat and mass transfer was demonstrated in this work. A
uniform radial shrinkage up to 35% of original radius was observed
to happen linearly with respect to moisture content with velocity
of 3.11 107 m/s. Influence of porosity and shrinkage on temperature
profile of sample was almost negligible. Closest prediction of
moisture profile was observed to happen when sample is considered
to be porous as well as shrinkable in nature thus, indicating
that porosity also plays a critical role in mass transfer. The slowest
heating zone and highest moisture containing zone can be studied
using surface contour of the model. This model satisfactorily predicts
the density profile of sample during the drying process. It is
observed that the density remains almost constant initially but further
increases linearly with time. Porosity prediction indicates that
sample undergoes major increase in porosity at later hours of drying
and porosity of fresh potato slices is 0.0173. Thermo physical
properties like density, thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity
can also be predicted using this model. This developed model can
be applied for predicting temperature profile, moisture profile
and influence of shrinkage on convective drying of various fruits
and vegetables. However, this model can still be improved by
including air properties and few more transport phenomenon like
capillarity, adsorption, dispersion, etc, by considering actual process
more precisely in order to avoid few other assumptions taken
for simplification of modeling.