FEM and FVM Methods for Design and Manufacturing of Hierarchical Aerospace Composites: A Review

The manufacturing of multiscale composite structures in aerospace engineering is governed by complex interactions among material heterogeneity, fluid rheology, and multiphysics phenomena—including thermal, chemical, electrical, and mechanical effects. These coupled processes introduce significant challenges during both processing and post-manufacturing stages, which are often difficult to resolve using traditional (experimental) trial-and-error approaches. This review explores the potential of advanced numerical methods and simulation frameworks to address these complexities. Emphasis is placed on the use of finite element and finite volume methods, along with their respective solution strategies and domain discretisation techniques, to solve the coupled governing equations involved in composite manufacturing processes. By integrating theory, computation, and physics-based understanding, these approaches enable predictive capability and design optimisation in the development of high-performance composite components for aerospace applications; many challenges though still remain in fabrication, design, and analysis.