Influence of the micro-structure on saturated transverse flow in fibre arrays

Gommer, Frank; Endruweit, Andreas; Long, Andrew C.

Abstract

This study analyses the influence of the random filament arrangement in fibre bundles on the resin flow behaviour. Transverse steady-state resin flow which occurs behind a liquid resin flow front was simulated numerically through statistically equivalent micro-structures at high fibre volume fractions, Vf >0.6, as observed in fibre bundles. The need of applying a minimum gap distance between neighbouring filaments was overcome by automated local mesh refinement. The derived permeability values showed significant scatter. Convergence of these values was determined at a ratio of flow length to filament radius greater than 20 for all three analysed fibre volume fractions. Mean permeabilities were between 6 and 10 times lower than those predicted for a hexagonal fibre array. A statistical model is proposed which is able to predict the scatter of observed permeabilities based on simple micro-structural descriptors.

Citation

Gommer, F., Endruweit, A., & Long, A. C. (2018). Influence of the micro-structure on saturated transverse flow in fibre arrays. Journal of Composite Materials, 52(18), 2463-2475. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021998317747954

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 15, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Jan 4, 2018
• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Nov 24, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 4, 2018
• Journal: Journal of Composite Materials
• Print ISSN: 0021-9983
• Electronic ISSN: 1530-793X
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 52
• Issue: 18
• Pages: 2463-2475
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0021998317747954
• Keywords: Fibres; Microstructures; Numerical analysis; Resin flow
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/903433
• Publisher URL: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0021998317747954