Analysis and Characterization of Relative Permeability and Capillary Pressure for Free Surface Flow of a Viscous Fluid across an Array of Aligned Cylindrical Fibers
✍ Scribed by Zuzana Dimitrovova; Suresh G Advani
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2002
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 371 KB
- Volume
- 245
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0021-9797
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✦ Synopsis
In LCM processes of fiber-reinforced composite manufacturing, resin is injected into a closed mold with a preplaced stationary fiber preform. If these preforms are created from fiber tows, resin progression at the microlevel during infiltration is often non-uniform. Consequently, macroscopic description of the filling phase requires a theory of flow through unsaturated porous media in which the transition (partly saturated) region must be taken into account. Unsaturated flows must consider surface tension effects; therefore, capillary pressure and relative permeability must be included in governing equations. This paper presents a methodology to determine relative permeability and macroscopic capillary pressure for simple flows. The results lead to important conclusions and the methodology can be generalized to other flow fields.