Experimental modeling of orange settling depth in water

Abstract

Settling depth of orange fruits and vegetables with the density lower than the density of water is an important hydrodynamic property important in hydraulic sorting and transporting. In this research, settling depth of orange fruit with regular shapes was experimentally modeled. The considered parameters in multivariate modeling were fruit characteristics, density, mass and volume, and dropping height of the fruits. The characteristics were determined by standard methods. The settling depth was determined by a water column and a digital camera. The models were obtained in MATLAB software. The best model was based on the density, volume and dropping height with coefficient of determination (R²) and mean squire error (MSE) of 0.89 and 4.67×10^-7, respectively.