Investigation of Engineering Properties of Paddy Grown in the Coastal Climate of Eastern India

Abstract

The objective of the present study is to investigate the engineering properties of paddy (One-thousand-one) grown in the coastal region of Odisha (India). The average length, width and thickness of paddy are measured as 8.80 mm, 2.65 mm and 1.91 mm respectively at moisture content of 28% (wb). The mean bulk density and true density of the particular variety of paddy are measured to be 0.61 g/cc and 1.47 g/cc. Properties like equivalent diameter, sphericity, grain volume, grain surface area, aspect ratio and porosity are calculated to be 3.58 mm, 0.40, 24.00 mm3, 35.66 mm2, 0.30, 58.24% respectively. The angle of repose and angle of friction of the paddy grains are determined to be 37.73o and 0.43o, 0.25o, 0.30o with plywood, glass and galvanized iron respectively. These engineering properties are useful in design of forced convection dryer for the drying and processing of paddy.