The composite pipe key-part in vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process was studied

in which the resin flow processes of four possible resin injection methods were simulated with the finite element/control volume method and the locations of inlet-gates and outlet-vents were estimated by comparing the needed injection time and resin flow front shapes. Following results can be obtained from the simulation process: the line-injection method can obtain a much better resin flow front shape as comparing with the point-injection method

which is the very reason of choosing the line-injection method to obtain the composite pipe scaled-down and whole scale key-parts. The actual experiments to validate the simulation results were conducted with the testing result that was implemented on the scale-down and wholescale composite pipe structure using the determined resin injection method. The simulation results show good agreement with that of the tests.