A Grey Wolf Optimizer-based Fractional Calculus in Studies on Solar Drying

Abstract

In this novel article, a comparative study has been conducted between analytical and fractional solution of Fick’s first- and second-order of diffusion to model the solar drying process of different products and dryers under different operating parameters. Laplace and Laplace’s inverse transform have been used to obtain the solution in function with two parameters: the order index n and the fractional time index α of the above Fick’s laws, and their parameters have been non-linearly optimised using a <i>grey wolf optimisation</i> (GWO) algorithm. The results showed that the anomalous diffusion phenomenon during the drying process is best described by the fractional‐order model. Values obtained using the model MR12 were in better agreement with the experimental data than the values obtained using the other selected models with very acceptable statistical parameters.