The Numerical Simulation Research of Steam Heating Process of Heated Mandrel Winding

Abstract

The external curing method is usually adopted as the traditional molding process of thermoset fiber composite shell, which places the wound shell into the thermal compression reactor or the oven to cure. This kind of process greatly limits the molding efficiency because winding and curing proceed respectively and separately. The internal curing can be adopted because of the hollow structure of the cylinder-shaped shell, which heats the mandrel with high pressure steam to realize the in-situ curing of the wound shell. This paper researches the new fiber composite molding process named heated mandrel winding. Not only does the heated mandrel winding inherit the advantages of internal curing process, it also greatly improves molding efficiency and quality. This paper introduces the process principle of heated mandrel winding and uses the finite element analysis software FLUENT to carry out the numerical simulation of steam flow and heat transfer during the mandrel heating process, and the simulation results are verified by experiment. According to the simulation results, the distribution and changing course of the flow field and temperature field of the system are obtained, and the relationships between the physical quantities including pressure, temperature and velocity and the parameters of the steam control and channel structure are analyzed.

Research on heated-mandrel winding process for resin-matrix composite shells

“…8,9 The author studied the heated-mandrel winding process, established a mathematical model of the steam flow field, and performed the numerical simulation of the steam flow and heat transfer during the mandrel-heating process in the previous research. 10 The heated-mandrel winding process is a complex interaction process involving heat transfer, resin curing, and changes in the mechanical properties of materials. The curing degree distribution is affected by the temperature distribution because curing is carried out by heating the resin; further, the temperature distribution is affected by the curing degree distribution because resin will release heat when cured.…”

“…8,9 The author studied the heated-mandrel winding process, established a mathematical model of the steam flow field, and performed the numerical simulation of the steam flow and heat transfer during the mandrel-heating process in the previous research. 10…”