Abstract: A new method to track resin flow fronts, referred to as the topological interpolated method (TIM), which is based on filling states and topological relations of adjacent nodes was proposed. An experiment on the mould filling process was conducted. It was compared with exact solutions and the experimental results, and good agreements were observed. Numerical and experimental comparisons with the conventional contour method were also carried out, and it showed that TIM could enhance the local accuracy of flow front solutions with respect to the contour method when merging flow fronts and resin approaching the mold wall were involved.

Key words: Flow front, Resin transfer molding (RTM), Simulation...