Optimal design of experiments and measurements of the water sorption process of wheat grains using a modified Peleg model
Paquet-Durand O, Zettel V, Kohlus R, Hitzmann B
Wheat grains consist of three major components, the bran layer, the endosperm and the germ, with very different water sorption kinetic. The original two parameter Peleg model cannot describe a water sorption process well for such heterogeneous compounds. Therefore, the model was modified to account for the two biggest fractions, the endosperm and the bran layer. This modified model has four parameters and can be used to accurately describe the hydration process of wheat grains. Two experiments were carried out, an initial experiment to get rough parameter values and a second experiment, which was designed optimally by using the Cramer-Rao lower bond method. The percentage parameter errors for the four parameters of the modified model were reduced from 669%, 24%, 12%, and 2.4% to 38%, 5.4%, 4.5% and 1.9% respectively. The presented results demonstrate the advantage of optimal design of experiments. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:Optimal design of experiment;Fisher information;Cramer-Rao lower bound;Water absorption;Peleg equation;Wheat grains