Numerical study of resin distribution in two different arrangements of vascular channels by means of constructal design

Abstract

In the present work two different arrangements of vascular channels are studied numerically and their geometry is optimized by means of Constructal Design. The main purpose is to seek for the best geometry which minimizes the resin flow resistance inside the channels. The arrangement of vascular channels consists in two horizontal channels of diameter D2 connected with two vertical channels of diameter D1. The channels of resin flow are distributed in a solid domain with two different ratios of height and length (H/L = 0.67 and 1.5) in order to illustrate the process of regeneration of composite materials. For all of evaluated configurations the ratio between the areas occupied by the channels and by the solid domain are kept fixed (ϕ = 0.1). It is considered a two dimensional, laminar and steady state flow (ReD2 = 1.0). The conservation equations of mass and momentum are solved numerically by means of the finite volume method (FVM). The results showed that the optimal geometric configuration has a flow resistance several times lower than that found with the worst geometry. For example, for H/L = 0.67, the ratio (D1/D2)o = 0.76 conduct to a fluid dynamic performance nearly 32 times superior than that found for D1/D2 = 0.1. It is also noticed that the best shapes are achieved when the pressure and velocity fields has the most homogeneous distribution, i.e., according to the constructal principle of “optimal distribution of imperfections”.