Abstract:
This study is concerned with Resin Infusion Liquid Composite Molding processes such as Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding. The Resin Infusion process has been effectively simulated using two models, one based on the conventional Darcy's Law and one based on a height-averaged modified version of Darcy's Law. The finite elements themselves are used as control volumes and a mass conservation technique is applied to improve the accuracy of fluid flux evaluation. Elements at the flow front are temporarily subdivided to allow for convergence of the numerical scheme. It is found that the temporal height derivative is important and cannot be neglected if one is interested in an accurate simulation. Neglecting this term to form the quasi-static forms of the full governing equations significantly increases the mass balance error and can greatly reduce the mold fill time.