Numerical simulation of void formation in LCM

The existence of void type defects in composite laminates manufactured using the liquid composite molding process alters the mechanical characteristics of the final product. The object of this paper is to present a procedure to simulate mold filling and to incorporate void formation. The model is composed of a unique combination of robust and accurate numerical algorithms for solving the transport equation. The saturation ratio is a macroscopic entity yet it is clearly the consequence of microscopic phenomena and especially of air entrapment within tows, hence the presence of micropores. In the model, the source term is dependent on the capillary number and is related to the micro–macro scale effects with the dual-porosity. The unsaturated flow and transport model was applied to a problem and was found to produce accurate, mass conserving solutions when compared to experimental results in void content.