Numerical Study on the Resin Transfer Molding Curing Process for Thick Composites Materials

The successful manufacture of thick composites is challenging since the highly exothermic nature of thermoset resins and limited temperature control make avoiding the onset of detrimental thermal gradients within the composite relatively difficult.This phenomenon is mainly caused by exothermic heat reactions.The so-called Michaud's model has been largely used in the literature to reduce the gap between experience and simulation with regard to the effective prediction of the temperature cycle in these processes.In this work,another solution is proposed to simulate the curing process for thick composites,namely preheating the resin to activate the curing reaction before resin injection into the mold.A good agreement between the experiment and the simulation is found.Moreover,in order to minimize the thermal gradient in the final composite,the thermophysical properties of the fiber and the torque(temperature,time)of the Plate have been varied leading to interesting results.

Numerical Simulation of a Granular Flow on a Smooth Inclined Plane

Unlike most fluids,granular materials include coexisting solid,liquid or gaseous regions,which produce a rich variety of complex flows.Dense flows of grains driven by gravity down inclines occur in nature and in industrialprocesses.To describe the granular flow on an inclined surface,several studies were carried out.We can cite in particular the description of Saint-Venant which considers a dry granular flow,without cohesion and it only takes into account the substance-substrate friction,this model proposes a simplified form of the granular flow,which depends on the one side on the angle of inclination of the substrate with respect to the horizontal plane and on the other side on the thickness of the substance H.The numerical simulation we have developed is first based on the Saint-Venant model,it allowed us to visualize the variation of the speed according to the thickness of the substance(from 0 to H)and to deduce the average speed of the substance on an inclined plane.However,this restrictive model does not take into account the effect of particle friction on the flow and considers that the thickness H is constant.To make our simulation more realistic,we opted for the Savage-Hatter model.We took into account the variation of the thickness on the particles speed,in addition we have studied the effect of the variation of many parameters on the granular flow,namely the temperature and the roughness of the substrate,the density and the compactness of the substance,we found that the speed of the particles increases and the treatment time decreases with an increase in temperature.

Effects of the Shading Rate on the Electrical Parameters of CIGS-Based Solar Modules

The aim of this article is to study the effects of the shading rate on the electrical performance parameters of CIGS PV modules. The study concerns a new flexible CIGS type photovoltaic module with a power of 90 W, manufactured by the company Shenzhen Shine Solar Co., Ltd. This module, reference SN-CIGS90, is tested under the initial conditions to ensure its correct operation and to determine the initial values of the electrical parameters before shading. After this characterization test, the module is exposed under the actual operating conditions of the Renewable Energies Study and Research Center (CERER), located in Dakar, then 4 types of shading are performed with the same mask: partial shading 25% partial shading, 50% partial shading, 75% partial shading, and 100% full shading. The variation rates obtained on the experimental values of the 4 types of shading carried out determine that the shading phenomenon constitutes a factor that influences negatively on the electrical parameters of a CIGS-based PV module. Indeed, for 25% of the surface of the shaded module, there is a reduction of 58.139% of the maximum power and of 60.507% of the efficiency and for shading of 100%, the module loses 84.436% of its maximum power and 84.135% of its performance.