  A novel direct approach to detect the resin flow front during the Liquid
Resin Infusion process under industrial environment is proposed. To detect the
resin front accurately and verify the results, which are deduced from indirect
micro-thermocouples measurements, optical fiber sensors based on Fresnel
reflection are utilized. It is expected that the results derived from both
techniques will lead to an improvement of our understanding of the resin flow
and in particular prove that micro-thermocouples can be used as sensors as
routine technique under our experimental conditions. Moreover, comparisons with
numerical simulations are carried out and experimental and simulated mold
filling times are successfully compared.
