Modelling of permeability of textile reinforcements: lattice Boltzmann method

Textile reinforcements are characterised by a hierarchy of structure. which allows a general structural approach to their behaviour and their use in composite processing. The hierarchical approach led to the development of a software tool for describing the geometry and mechanics of textiles. This tool is used as a pre-processor for meso-mechanical and permeability models for textile composites. Together the pre-processor, permeability and meso-mechanical models constitute an integrated design tool for textile composite modelling on a meso-scale level. The permeability-related part of this tool is presented in this paper. The focus is on the strategy and numerical approach to permeability modelling of textiles. The proposed strategy allows integrating in a natural way the different processing steps of composite manufacturing, while a numerical approach based on the lattice Boltzmann method allows dealing with the complexity of flow in textiles. Comparison with model test cases and with experimental data on permeability of woven fabrics is provided. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.