Abstract
In the manufacturing process of large geometrically complex components comprising of fiber-reinforced composite materials by Resin Transfer Molding (RTM), the process involves injection of resin into a mold cavity filled with porous fiber preforms. The overall success of the RTM manufacturing process depends on the complete impregnation of the fiber mat by the polymer resin, prevention of polymer gelation during filling, and subsequent avoidance of dry spots. Since a cold resin is injected into a hot mold, the associated physics encompasses a moving boundary value problem in conjunction with the multidisciplinary study of flow/thermal and cure inside the mold cavity. Although experimental validations are indispensable, routine manufacture of large complex structural geometries can only be enhanced via computational simulations, thus eliminating costly trial runs and helping the designer in the set-up of the manufacturing process. This study describes the developments towards formulating an effective simulation based design methodology using the finite element method. The specific application is for thin shell-like geometries with thickness being much smaller than the other dimensions of the part. Due to the highly advective nature of the non-isothermal conditions involving thermal and polymerization reactions, special computational considerations and stabilization techniques are also proposed. Validations and comparisons with experimental results are presented whenever available.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Application of Porous Media Methods for Engineered Materials |
| Publisher | American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) |
| Pages | 83-102 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780791816493 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1999 |
| Event | ASME 1999 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, IMECE 1999 - Nashville, United States Duration: Nov 14 1999 → Nov 19 1999 |
Publication series
| Name | ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Proceedings (IMECE) |
|---|---|
| Volume | 1999-F |
Conference
| Conference | ASME 1999 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, IMECE 1999 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | Nashville |
| Period | 11/14/99 → 11/19/99 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:by Battelle/U.S. Army Research Office (ARO) Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, under grant number DAAH04-96-C-0086, and by the Army High Performance Computing Research Center (AHPCRC) under the auspices of the Department of the Army, Army Research Laboratory (ARL) cooperative agreement num ber DAAH04-95-2-0003/contract number DAAH04-95-C-0008. The content does not necessarily reflect the position or the pol icy of the government, and no official endorsement should be inferred. Support in part by Dr. Andrew Mark of the Integrated Modeling and Testing (IMT) Computational Technical Activity and the ARL/MSRC facilities is also gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks are due to the CICC Directorate and the Materials Directorate at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), Ab erdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. Other related support in form of computer grants from the Minnesota Supercomputer Institute (MSI), Minneapolis, Minnesota is also gratefully acknowledged.
Funding Information:
The authors are very pleased to acknowledge support in part by Battelle/U.S. Army Research Office (ARO) Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, under grant number DAAH04-96-C-0086, and by the Army High Performance Computing Research Center (AHPCRC) under the auspices of the Department of the Army, Army Research Laboratory (ARL) cooperative agreement number DAAH04-95-2-0003/contract number DAAH04-95-C-0008. The content does not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of the government, and no official endorsement should be inferred. Support in part by Dr. Andrew Mark of the Integrated Modeling and Testing (IMT) Computational Technical Activity and the ARL/MSRC facilities is also gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks are due to the CICC Directorate and the Materials Directorate at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. Other related support in form of computer grants from the Minnesota Supercomputer Institute (MSI), Minneapolis, Minnesota is also gratefully acknowledged.
Publisher Copyright:
© 1999 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). All rights reserved.