A Study on Permeability of Unidirectional Fiber Beds

Permeability crucial to resin flow was studied. Approximate solutions of Kozeny constant for regularly packed beds were developed for square and triangular cells in parallel and perpendicular flows. Network system models for fiber beds which are irregularly packed were proposed. Validity of the models was checked through the experiments. Image processing technique was applied to find centers of fibers. Prediction of permeability is done by the application of network models using the centers of fibers. In two flow types, good agreement was found between experiments and predictions by the network models. Permeability of fiber beds can be directly calculated by suggested models using the images.