Heat Equation Analysis of Defrosting A Roll of Frozen Ground Beef

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Heat Equation Analysis of Defrosting a Roll of

Frozen Ground Beef
Jacob D Jones
Brigham Young University
Submitted to
Vladimir Soloviev
MEEN 505-1
Dec 8, 2017
I. INTRODUCTION II. THE PROBLEM

In the modern age, food science must deal The rolls of beef are formed by extruding
with issues not present less than a century the meat into a plastic sleeve which is cut and
before. With the availability of the first home tied at each end. Besides manufacturing
refrigerators in 1912, food preservation considerations, the roll of beef lends itself to
through cooling and freezing has been freezing and defrosting better than the more
common, even in many 3rd world economies. traditional Styrofoam plate due to the
This paper addresses the issue of defrosting absence of air pockets and the much lower
meat, specifically a frozen roll of beef. In thermal conductivity of the thin film vs the
particular, it investigates the heat activity to plate. The resulting cylindrical shape also
defrost the roll when subjected to a constant lends itself better to thermal analysis.
outer temperature, likely to approximate
being run under faucet of warm water. A. Material Approximations
This is a continuation of a project done by
the author in a Heat Transfer class a year The dimensions of the roll under
prior. investigation are the following:
Length 0.042 m
Diameter 0.26 m
For this analysis the roll will be

approximated as an infinite cylinder. There
are three reasons for this approximation:
1) Defrosting is an attempt to raise the
temperature of the entire item. Therefore,
we are most concerned with the last
portion to be raised above freezing, ie the
Figure 1. Roll of meat under tap water. center of the center ring of the cylinder.
2
2) The likely method to defrost the roll is of the roll, since our problem is symmetric
forced convective heat via running tap about said axis.
water. The water is unlikely to evenly
𝑇(𝑟1 , 𝑡) = 0, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡 > 0
coat the ends, and end effects need be
neglected. 𝑇(0, 𝑡) = 0, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡 > 0
3) By the long cylinder assumption,
𝑙 260 C. Analysis
= = 12.38 > 10
𝑟 21 Use separation of variables.
the roll dimensions are adequate.
𝑇(𝑟, 𝑡) → 𝑅(𝑟)𝐵(𝑡)
The thermal diffusivity of ground beef is
approximated to be the following. 1 𝑑 𝑑𝑅 1 𝑑𝐵
(𝑟 ) =
𝑟𝑅 𝑑𝑟 𝑑𝑟 𝛼𝐵 𝑑𝑡
𝑘 0.4
𝛼= = = 1.59 ∗ 10−7 Two equations are derived:
𝜌𝐶𝑝 (881)(2850)
𝑑𝐵
We will also apply a tap water temperature + 𝛼𝜆2 𝐵 = 0 (1)
𝑑𝑡
of 320 K, and the roll temperature of 255 K. 𝑑2 𝑅 𝑑𝑅
𝑟 2 𝑑𝑟 2 + 𝑟 𝑑𝑟 + 𝑟 2 𝜆2 𝑅 = 0 (2)
We see that equation (2) has a Bessel

B. The Heat Equation solution,
The heat equation for a cylinder describes 𝑅(𝑟) = 𝐶1 𝐽0 (𝜆𝑟) (3)
the temperature T(r,ө,z,t) as,
where 𝜆 is the found using the boundary
1 𝜕𝑇 condition of 𝑇(𝑟1 , 𝑡) = 0.
∇2 𝑇 =
𝛼 𝜕𝑡
Equation (1) is a first order ode with the
For our given conditions of an infinitely solution,
long cylinder with symmetry about the axis,
2𝑡
the heat equation simplifies to, 𝐵(𝑡) = 𝐶2 𝑒 −𝛼𝜆 (4).
Combining (3) and (4), we arrive at,
𝜕 2 𝑇 1 𝜕𝑇 1 𝜕𝑇
+ = 2𝑡
𝜕𝑟 𝑟 𝜕𝑟 𝛼 𝜕𝑡 𝑇𝑛 = 𝐴𝑛 𝐽0 (𝜆𝑟)𝐶2 𝑒 −𝛼𝜆
With the initial condition, 2 𝑟
where, 𝐴𝑛 = 𝑟 2 𝐽2 (𝜆𝑟 ) ∫0 𝑖 𝑟𝐽0 (𝜆𝑟)𝑇𝑖 𝑑𝑟
𝑖 1 𝑖
𝑇(𝑟, 0) = 𝑇𝑖
and the final solution is,
where 𝑇𝑖 is the initial temperature of the roll,
2𝑇𝑖 𝐽0 (𝜆𝑟) 2𝑡
and because we will model the tap water at a 𝑇(𝑟, 𝑡) = ∑∞ 𝑒 −𝛼𝜆 (5).
𝑟𝑖 𝜆𝐽1 (𝜆𝑟𝑖 )
temperature of 0, 𝑇𝑖 = −32.
D. Result
Finally, the boundary conditions are
decided by a constant surface temperature The following plots show the temperature
(set as 0 for ease of equation solution) and a distribution over 1 hour increments:
temperature gradient of zero at the axis line
3
t = 1hr
t = 0 hr
t = 3 hr
t = 2 hr
The defrosting was considerably slower than

expected, taking over 3hr for the center to
reach to a temperature above freezing. There
is surely a discrepancy due to the fact that
the thermal properties of beef change
considerably throughout the process. There
are likely other unconsidered factors which
escaped this model, including phase change
effects of the water content in the meat.
Overall however, the trend is appropriate
and the time, while slow, is comparable to
experience in defrosting meat in tepid
environments.

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Heat Equation Analysis of Defrosting a Roll of

I. INTRODUCTION II. THE PROBLEM

For this analysis the roll will be

We see that equation (2) has a Bessel

The defrosting was considerably slower than

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