A Method to Determine 3D Permeability of Fibrous Reinforcements

Abstract

Numerical simulations of resin flow in Liquid Composite Molding processes require reliable data for in-plane as well as transverse permeability. The goal of this work is to propose a method for simultaneous determination of the principal values of 3D permeability tensor of fibrous reinforcements. The permeability components are calculated from experimental data, consisting of flow front position with time during radial injection. Experimental results are compared with numerical simulations. The methodology was described in our previous publication (Nedanov, P.B., Advani, S.G., Walsh, S.W. and Ballata, W.O. (1999). Advances in Aerospace in Materials and Structures. AD-Vol. 58, ASME.), in which all experimental data was collected by using SMART weave sensor system. This paper presents an improved non-intrusive version of the method, entirely based on visualization. The accuracy is also enhanced by using least square fit to experimental data. Eliminating the necessity for expensive and often intrusive sensor system turns the laborious and time-consuming method into a practical, fast and convenient method to determine 3D permeability in Liquid Composite Molding.

Keywords

permeability tensor measurement porous media flows fiber preforms VARTM RTM composites processing numerical simulations

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