Interpretation of 3-D permeability measurements for RTM modeling

The resin transfer molding (RTM) technique often utilizes reinforcement with a complex fiber architecture. Several parameters, including the permeability tensor, are necessary to characterize the flow behavior in these intricate fibrous porous media. In this paper, a general procedure for extracting three‐dimensional permeability tensors from data is presented. A general procedure is warranted if the permeability tensor lies out of the material plane. An approximate solution to Darcy's law was employed to relate the components of the permeability tensor to experimental measurements. The procedure requires inverting six nonlinear equations with a robust binary search algorithm. The accuracy of the approximate solution to Darcy's law was checked and found to be in close agreement with a nearly exact solution to Darcy's law obtained by finite element methods.