Applications of recently proposed closure approximations to injection molding filling simulation of short-fiber reinforced plastics

The present work is aimed at performing injection molding filling simulation of fiber suspension in polymer based matrix. The numerical simulation incorporates the coupling effect between the flow field and the fiber orientation state together with in-plane velocity gradient effect with recently proposed closure approximations. Predicted orientation components are compared with available experimental data of a film-gated strip and a center-gated disk. Predictions with IBOF closure approximation show excellent behaviors with regard to accuracy and numerical efficiency. However, predicted results seem to have consistent errors in comparison with experimental data. Diffusivity term which accounts for fiber-fiber interaction might have to be modified.