Computed-tomography based modeling and simulation of moisture diffusion and induced swelling in textile composite materials

The present work focuses on computed-tomography based modeling and simulation of moisture diffusion and induced swelling in carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) materials. The meso-scale models are constructed using CT image-based voxel-mesh approach, Fickian diffusivity model is used for moisture diffusivity simulation. Various diffusivity processes are investigated: prediction of moisture diffusion path and local moisture concentration inside a material samples during a sorption test, comparing total mass uptake for real microstructure and equivalent material models, sorption behavior of cracked samples with different crack volume fraction, hygro-thermal resin swelling simulation. Besides, voxel-mesh model was successfully used for statistical analysis of the diffusion material properties. The discussion of the simulation result highlights both physical material behavior and efficiency of the applied numerical techniques. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.