title: Analysis and characterization of relative permeability and capillary pressure for free surface flow of a viscous fluid across an array of aligned cylindrical fibers.
abstract: In LCM processes of fiber-reinforced composite manufacturing, resin is injected into a closed mold with a preplaced stationary fiber preform. If these preforms are created from fiber tows, resin progression at the microlevel during infiltration is often non-uniform. Consequently, macroscopic description of the filling phase requires a theory of flow through unsaturated porous media in which the transition (partly saturated) region must be taken into account. Unsaturated flows must consider surface tension effects; therefore, capillary pressure and relative permeability must be included in governing equations. This paper presents a methodology to determine relative permeability and macroscopic capillary pressure for simple flows. The results lead to important conclusions and the methodology can be generalized to other flow fields.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Engenharia Mecanica, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Av. Rovisco pais, 1, Lisboa, 1049-001, Portugal. zdimitro@dem.ist.utl.pt
authors.forename: Zuzana
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dimitrovova
authors.forename: Suresh G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Advani