Numerical simulation of mold filling in reaction injection molding

A two dimensional finite element model for the simulation of the advancing front in reaction injection molding (RIM) is presented. The model is based on the solution of the full Navier‐Stokes equation for the computation of the velocity and pressure. The arbitrary Lagrange‐Euler method is used for the moving front. The method of characteristics is used for the solution of the mass‐and energy equations. An automatic remeshing algorithm is used to prevent element distortion and to optimize element size and number. Numerical results are presented for flow into a complex domain in order to illustrate the versatility of the method.