Macroscale Simulation of Fiber Bed Impregnation Utilizing Microscale Material Properties

A numerical process model was created to simulate unsteady flow through nonhomogeneous unidirectional fibrous media. Permeabilities calculated at the fiber level were applied over small spatial and temporal regions to improve accuracy of macroscopic analysis. Consideration was given to non-ideal aspects of the fiber bed, especially fiber array randomness and fiber bed compressibility. Experimental results indicated that permeant driven fiber compaction had a major influence on flow front advancement. Overall, the process model developed in this work showed marked improvement in predicting flow front locations over a standard bulk property model.