Moisture content change of Korean red pine logs during air drying: I. effective air drying days in major regions in Korea

Abstract

Air drying depends on species, density, dimension of wood, the geographical location of the air drying yard, and the meteorological factors of air drying site. If there are four seasons with large difference in temperature and humidity like in Korea, the research of the meteorological factors is required in air drying site. In this study, effective air drying days (EADD) of 24 regions in Korea were calculated by using the average monthly temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed. The EADD in 24 regions in Korea was ranged from 239 days to 291 days, with an average 265 days. This result is 5 days increased compared to the average of EADD calculated using the meteorological factors from 1955 to 1984. The results of multiple regression analysis on the EADD and meteorological factors showed that EADD affected in the order of temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed. As a result of dividing Korea into 4 zones of EADD, the zones of EADD were moved northward compared to previous study due to global warming. As basic data for predicting the moisture content (MC) distribution of Korean red pine logs during air drying conducted in Seoul, the average monthly temperature, relative humidity and wind speed for three years from 2016 to 2018 were presented, and the corresponding changes of the equilibrium MC were analyzed.