Two-dimensional control volume modeling of the resin infiltration of a porous medium with a heterogeneous permeability tensor

Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) is a polymer composite processing technique widely used in the aeronautics and automotive sectors. This paper describes the numerical simulation of the RTM process where Darcy’s law was used for the mathematical formulation of the problem. A control volume finite element method was used for the determination of pressure gradients inside the mold, and a geometric reconstruction algorithm is used for the resin flow-front determination. Permeability of the medium was considered either a constant or a two dimensional tensor. The application was validated by direct comparison with literature data and good qualitative and quantitative agreement was obtained. The finite volume method was built to be used with a two-dimensional unstructured grid, hence allowing the analysis of complex geometries. The results showed that the proposed methodology is fully capable of predicting resin flow advancement in a multi-layer (with distinct physical properties) reinforced media