Mulye, P.; Syerko, E.; Binetruy, C.; Leygue, A. A Novel Finite Element-Based Method for Predicting the Permeability of Heterogeneous and Anisotropic Porous Microstructures. Materials2024, 17, 2873.
Mulye, P.; Syerko, E.; Binetruy, C.; Leygue, A. A Novel Finite Element-Based Method for Predicting the Permeability of Heterogeneous and Anisotropic Porous Microstructures. Materials 2024, 17, 2873.
Mulye, P.; Syerko, E.; Binetruy, C.; Leygue, A. A Novel Finite Element-Based Method for Predicting the Permeability of Heterogeneous and Anisotropic Porous Microstructures. Materials2024, 17, 2873.
Mulye, P.; Syerko, E.; Binetruy, C.; Leygue, A. A Novel Finite Element-Based Method for Predicting the Permeability of Heterogeneous and Anisotropic Porous Microstructures. Materials 2024, 17, 2873.
Abstract
Permeability is a fundamental property of porous media, especially when studying resin transfer within a dense fibrous medium to manufacture composite materials. When the measurement of permeability tensor of composite reinforcements is difficult and time consuming, especially in thick, heterogeneous fibrous structures, a numerical approach based on the calculation of the tensor components on a 3D image of the material can be very advantageous. A new finite element based method proposed in this study allows solving very high-dimensional flow problems while limiting the biases associated with boundary conditions and the small size of the numerical samples addressed. The method is validated against academic test cases and against the results of a recent permeability benchmark exercise. The results emphasize that for heterogeneous and anisotropic microstructures, it is important to perform calculations on large samples using boundary conditions that do not suppress the transverse flows that occur when flow is forced out of the principal directions. Since these are not necessarily known in complex media, the permeability determination method must not introduce bias by generating non-physical flows.
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