Numerical Simulation and Analysis of Flow in Resin Transfer Moulding Process

A modified finite element/control volume (FE/CV) method is used to solve the resin flow problem. Full advantage is taken of some of the intrinsic peculiar characteristics of the method, in particular, of its capability of eliminating the need to remesh continuously the resin-filled domain at each time step. The model leads to the numerical prediction of temperature, pressure distribution and flow front position with great accuracy, together with a precise representation of the thermal (spatio-temporal) behaviour of the resin inside the mould. The validity of such approach is validated by comparison with available analytical results. Results demonstrate that this modified method can reduce significantly the required resources (time and space memory). In turn, this allows to deal with problems of greater and more complex dimensions, mostly encountered in RTM application fields. From an applicationoriented standpoint, it is shown how the developed code can be used to optimise the injection port location in the mould and lead to significant improvement of the composite production process.