Prediction of Filling Time and Vent Locations for Resin Transfer Molds

A previously reported algorithm for predicting the last point to fill in a porous mold is presented. This algorithm is modified for the prediction of the filling time and vent location in anisotropic RTM molds of various geometries with time dependent boundary conditions. The proposed method is computationally efficient and requires, at most, the solution of two linear systems of equations. For a number of test cases, the performance of the method is investigated on comparing predicted vent locations with those obtained using a complete filling simulation. It is demonstrated that the proposed method can predict fill times and vent locations with the same accuracy as a direct filling simulation but at a much reduced computational cost. Finally, it is shown how an alternative interpretation of the results from the vent location algorithm can be used to predict the location of all the potential dry spots (vent locations) in an RTM mold.

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