A FINITE-ELEMENT SIMULATION OF RESIN TRANSFER MOLDING BASED ON PARTIAL NODAL SATURATION AND IMPLICIT TIME INTEGRATION

A finite element (FEM) approach using an implicit time integration alg orithm has been developed to simulate isothermal resin transfer moldin g process. The finite element formulation is based on the concept of p artial saturation at the flow front. The discretized equation is essen tially the same as is obtained by a finite element/ control volume for mulation. The FEM approach is easier to implement for different types of elements. Unlike the explicit time integration schemes, the propose d implicit algorithm uses fixed time steps and allows the flow to adva nce farther than a layer of flow front elements in a single time step. The resulting code RTMSIM has been validated by comparing its predict ions with closed-form solutions for flat plates. A wicking analysis is provided to show the code's ability to deal with the effect of capill ary pressure. Several other simulations are provided to demonstrate th e accuracy and efficiency of the code. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Limited. All rights reserved.