Numerical simulation of microscopic flow in a fiber bundle using the moving particle semi-implicit method

This paper simulated the microscopic flow in a fiber bundle using the moving particle semi-implicit (MPS) method. Two phases (resin and air) were directly modeled to clarify the detailed mechanism of air entrapments in a fiber bundle. An external force was then introduced into the Navier–Stokes equation using a quasi-potential term to express the wettability between fiber and resin. To validate the MPS method for application to resin flow, we simulated a droplet of resin and the capillary flow of resin between the fibers. To validate the present approach, we simulated water-and-air two-phase flow and compared the simulation results with experiment results. The simulated results for water flow agreed well with the experiment results. Based on these validations, resin-and-air two-phase flow in a fiber bundle was simulated to analyze void formation in a fiber bundle. The simulation indicates that void formation depends on fiber arrangement as well as wettability.