Numerical Simulation of the Influence of Fibrous Structure on Resin Filling in RTM Process

Reducing mold filling time and bubble content are the two key issues in Resin Transfer Molding (RTM).The two-phase flow model was built in this paper based on Newtonian fluid and Navier-Stokes equations.Combining the FVM with volume of fluid approach,a successful numerical simulation of isothermal filling stage was achieved.The changes of physical parameters in the filling stage,the influence of the fibrous structure and viscosity of the resin on mold filling time and the formation and exclusion of voids were analyzed.Moreover,there is a good agreement between numerical results and the analytical solutions as well as experimental results.The numerical results show that the model can accurately reflect the process of resin filling.For low viscous melt,pore width of woven fiber has the best horizontal and vertical size.In addition,increase of the viscosity of resin will affect the formation and the removal process of air bubbles in the fiber,thus influence the final mold filling time.