Determination of the Permeability Tensor of Fibrous Reinforcements for VARTM

VARTM and SCRIMP composite manufacturing processes use a highly permeable media to distribute the resin through the thickness of the composite. Hence, manufacturing simulations of resin flow in such processes requires reliable data for in-plane as well as transverse permeability. The goal of this study is to propose a method for simultaneous determination of the principal values of 3D-permeability tensor of fibrous reinforcements. The permeability components are calculated from experimental data, consisting of flow front position with time during resin impregnation in three dimensions from a radial source under constant pressure using the SMARTweave [Walsh (1993), Fink et al.(1995)] sensor system. Experimental results are compared with numerical simulation.