Hygrostress-multicrack formation and propagation in cylindrical viscoelastic food undergoing heat and moisture transfer processes

Several foods stress-crack during heat and moisture transfer processes without careful process control. Since published simulation studies on stress-cracking were scarce, the present study aimed to develop and validate a model for simulating heat and moisture transfer, hygrostress crack formation and propagation in cylindrical, viscoelastic food. For this, an improved Luikov's model for heat and moisture transfer was used together with the virtual work principle of a viscoelastically deforming body, a critical tensile stress criterion for stress crack formation and a crack-tip-opening-angle criterion for stress crack propagation.