Numerical modelling of liquid infusion into fibrous media undergoing compaction

Abstract

International audienceIn the present paper, an overall model for the study of a non isothermal fluid flow across a highly compressible porous medium is proposed, in order to be included into a finite element software. This model can be applied to a wide range of activities, and as an application it is used here to model dry route composite manufacturing processes. Indeed, it is to be noted that the spreading of these promising processes fails due to the absence of a numerical model able to capture the resin infusion across the compressed preform thickness. The main difficulty being that this infusion results from a pressure prescribed over the deformable preform/resin stacking involved. From the modelling point of view, problems of this multi-physical analysis are two fold. First the coupling of liquid regions, ruled by Stokes equations, with the fibrous preform regions governed by a Darcy's law, yield badly posed boundary conditions. Second, the interaction phenomena due to the resin flow in the highly compressible preform are not classical. The model developed here includes a modified BeaverShaffmanJoseph condition to couple Stokes and Darcy zones, and is based on an ALE formulation of the liquid flow across the deformable porous medium in which finite strains are accounted for with an updated Lagrangian scheme. These mechanical models are also coupled with thermo-chemical models, accounting for resin reticulation under the temperature cycle prescribed by the processing equipment

Combining a level‐set method and a mixed stabilized P1/P1 formulation for coupling Stokes–Darcy flows

“… Examples of processes by resin infusion 2 (a) liquid resin infusion (LRI) and (b) resin film infusion (RFI).…”

Structural composites for multifunctional applications: Current challenges and future trends

“…Alternative methods to track the propagation of fluid flow through a porous media are the level-set method [103,104], arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian algorithms [105] and phase-field methods [106]. In general, all these techniques can describe accurately the flow front position from a mathematical viewpoint for a given set of material properties (fluid viscosity, permeability, etc.)…”

Numerical simulation of flow processes in composites manufacturing

“…In the case of textile reinforcements with high-count tows exhibiting strong structural integrity, however, interlaminar shear stiffness may not be negligible. Some researchers proposed modeling of coupling between resin flow and fabric deformation considering interlaminar shear stress gradient in the stress equilibrium equation (Huber and Poursrtip, 1998;Hubert et al, 1999;Loos et al, 2002;Li and Tucker, 2002;Celle et al, 2008). We can assume that there is a discontinuity at the flow front in terms of fabric deformation behavior because flow front is an interface between wet fabric and dry fabric, which have different deformation behaviors.…”