Numerical Study of Focusing Effects of Microwaves inside Wood Due to Timber Ring Structure

The aim of this study is the detailed calculation of microwave propagation inside raw timber in cylindrical configurations. Two different approaches have been used. The first one uses an exact formulation and analytical approximations in order to explore the electromagnetic field distribution inside dry wood. The introduction of conductivity in the exact model makes it so complex that the equations are unsuitable for analytical manipulation. In order to further explore the effect of moisture in cylindrical wood structures, a full scale numerical simulation using commercial software has been performed. The results show that for microwave frequencies in the 3 GHz range and for typical wood parameters, a cylindrical log behaves as a kind of Fresnel lens. This work has important applications in microwave treatment and sensing of wood.