GOVERNING EQUATIONS FOR ISOTHERMAL FLOW THROUGH WOVEN FIBER MATS BY EMPLOYING LOCAL VOLUME AVERAGING TECHNIQUE
Abstract
Accurate
mathematical modeling of resin flow in liquid composite molding (LCM) processes
is important for effective simulations of the mold-filling process. Recent
experiments indicate that the physics of resin flow in woven fiber mats is very
different from the flow in random fiber mats. In this study, the mathematically
rigorous volume averaging method is adapted to derive the averaged form of mass
and momentum balance equations for unsaturated flow in LCM. The two phases used
in the volume averaging method are the dense bundle of fibers called tows, and
the surrounding gap present in the woven fiber mats. Averaging the mass balance
equation yields a macroscopic equation of continuity which is similar to the
conventional continuity equation for a single-phase flow. Similar averaging of
the momentum balance equation is accomplished for the dual-scale porous medium.
Keywords
References
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Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Engineering
Journal Section
Research Article
Authors
Bayram Alakuş
*
This is me
Publication Date
April 15, 2011
Submission Date
September 23, 2010
Acceptance Date
December 8, 2010
Published in Issue
Year 2011 Number: 024