A fixed mesh numerical method for modelling the flow in liquid composites moulding processes using a volume of fluid technique

This paper presents the development and application of a numerical procedure for the simulation of the flow phenomena involved in composite manufacturing processes. The kinematic resolution combines a discretization of the volume fraction evolution equation and the verification of the movement and the incompressibility equations in a fixed mesh. We consider a variational formulation of Darcy's flow weighted by the volume fraction and the variational formulation of a pseudo-behaviour associated with the empty part of the domain weighted by its complementary function. For the integration of the advection equation, which governs the volume fraction evolution, a second-order scheme with flux limiters has been used. In order to validate the proposed method, numerical results in one and two dimensions are presented. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.