**2. Related works**

There are some works reporting analysis of ultrasound-assisted food dehydration systems. For example, in 2006, García-Pérez *et al.* proposed an ultrasound-assisted convection dehydration system consisted of an aluminum–cylinder drying chamber able to create a high-intensity ultrasound field at 21.8 kHz [8]. In 2011, Khmelev *et al.* [9] also proposed an ultrasound-assisted dehydration system consisted of a resonant drying chamber to amplify the ultrasound waves. They determined that the efficiency of their dehydration system was 20% higher than the efficiency of a pure convection system. In 2015, Fernandes *et al.* examined the influence of ultrasound waves on apple dehydration and estimated the effective moisture diffusivity [33]. Lastly, Sabarez *et al.* developed and tested a high-intensity ultrasound system to assist a conventional dehydration system, which was more efficient between 46 and 57% than a conventional dehydration system [10]. Also, there are other works related to the energy and environmental analysis of ultrasound-assisted food dehydration. For example, in 2022 Chavan *et al.* simulated dehydration at an industrial scale for some vegetables [34]. On the other hand, there are works related to parametric studies about ultrasoundassisted food dehydration systems. For example, in 2020, Huang *et al.* considered the air flow rate, ultrasonic power, and mass loading in the analysis of a food ultrasoundassisted dehydration system [35].

Considering this variety of scientific works, we decided to include in this chapter the study and simulation analysis of the thermo-acoustic behavior of apple and tomato samples when they are dehydrated in an ultrasound-assisted convection system. We performed this simulation analysis by using the finite element method (FEM) implemented in COMSOL Multiphysics*™*. In this way, we analyzed the temporal and spectral behavior of the dehydration system, which we estimated, as a function of the radiation time and the ultrasound waves frequency, and the temperature changes of the 5 mm-size food plates (apple or tomato). This simulation analysis also identifies changes in food temperature based on the location of the samples within the dehydration chamber.
