Improved Finite Volume multiphase flow simulation model for strongly inhomogeneous porous media

In all liquid composite molding (LCM) technologies, dry fiber preforms are placed into a mold which is subsequently closed or sealed with a flexible bag by drawing a vacuum. Placing a highly permeable flow distribution medium (DM) on top of the fiber preform (FP), often separated by a perforated release film or peel ply, allows for fast in-plane resin distribution and subsequent preform impregnation in out-of-plane direction. FP and DM typically exhibit differences in permeability of several orders of magnitude. Fluid flow through stacked layers of FP and DM can be studied experimentally by means of linear or radial flow experiments as well as by methods of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), i.e. numerical filling simulations. Here, the open source package OpenFOAM was used.