The numerical simulation of ceramic drying process is difficult as the heat and moisture movements in green ceramics caused by temperature gradients, moisture gradients, conduction, convection and evaporation should be considered. In the finite element formulation for solving temperature and moisture distributions during the drying process, the internally discontinuous interface elements are employed to avoid the numerical divergence problem arising from sudden changes in heat capacity in phase zones. In order to show the reliability of the numerical method proposed in this study, the drying process of a ceramic electric insulator is simulated and the results are compared with those of other investigators.

Keywords: Phase Change, Internally Discontinuous Element, Ceramic Drying Process, Ceramic Electric Insulator, Finite Element Method