JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #49 - June 2009 - 35

Design working on the mould. CATIA Composites Design automatically generates splices from the solid model based on the zone or grid design, while keeping full associativity between the plies and solid. They organize the ply build-up by recording non geometric information and creating sequence charts per company standards, material tables and lay-up books. The ability to design the composite lay-up within the context of the complete blade assembly streamlines the design process. It also ensures a higher level of accuracy that reduces the number of physical prototypes needed to finalize the design. This in turn cuts costs, eliminates trial and error, improves accuracy, improves durability and minimizes splices and darts. CATIA Composites Design contains powerful design optimization tools, providing advantages such as the ability to swap ply edges to optimize drop-offs, shape plies and re-route sets of plies along a preferred path. geometry for each ply within the CAD environment. This geometry can be exported to a ply-cutting machine to produce the patterns for Bird strike simulation using SIMULIA Abaqus from prototyping, Dassault Systèmes. saving time that would normally be spent cutting the patterns by hand. More importantly, as simulation is used to identify any manufacturing problems in the virtual environment, the first iteration of the design should be correct or very close to correct, eliminating the need for trial and error on the shop floor. Composite design and manufacturing data can easily be linked to nesting systems, as well as all industry-standard laser projection systems. This approach can be used to preview and optimize laser projection on screen before actually reaching the shop floor, thus eliminating trial and error. It also eliminates the need for manual measurement during the lay-up process. Close coordination with tape laying and fibre placement machine providers ensures that the process flow is seamlessly tailored to their machines. Finally, shop floor documentation is available either as a traditional drawing-based ply book or a digital ePly book to dynamically integrate the 3D master with all associated operations and work instructions. Tighter integration with analysis The new best practices pioneered in rotorcraft blade design substantially improve the analysis process by integrating design with finite element analysis (FEA) for fast design-analysis iterations in full associativity with the zone and ply definition. Bidirectional communications are provided between design and analysis at both the conceptual and detailed design stages. The ability to directly transfer accurate fibre angles and ply thicknesses from the design to the analysis environment improves the simulation accuracy. The ability to transfer updated design information from analysis back to design enables designers and analysts to work closely together, ensures the analyzed model matches the final structure, and prevents the specification of plies and structures that cannot be manufactured. Abaqus FEA software provides engineers with advanced, stateof-the-art capabilities for simulating realistic composite behaviour, including delamination and damage. These complex, nonlinear effects are modelled using cohesive elements and VCCT (virtual crack closure technique). Engineers can use the VCCT capabilities in Abaqus to identify the overall load at which a crack initiates and to predict the behaviour of the structure as the crack propagates. It also helps users understand the stability and load-carrying capacity of the composite structure after failure. Frontier Wind blazing new trails Frontier Wind, LLC is applying CATIA for composites and aerospace best practices to the challenges of developing wind turbine technology solutions to increase energy production. Frontier Wind grew out of Energy Unlimited, Inc. (EUI), an owner and operator of more than 400 wind turbines. Frontier Wind’s Variblade will be the first commercially-available, variable-length wind turbine blade. The blade is designed to extend and retract, lengthening to capture more wind at low speeds and shortening to operate safely at high speeds. The embedded variable-length mechanism increases the complexity of the design process for the Variblade far beyond conventional fixed-length blades. Frontier Wind is utilizing CATIA for composite design methods that were originally developed in the aerospace industry to design and analyze Variblade. The blade has reached the advanced stages of design and testing, and promises increased energy production and availability. Contacts: Olivier.NALLET@3ds.com Remi.DORNIER@3ds.com More information: www.3ds.com/composites Evaluating manufacturability in the virtual environment Aerospace best practices also provide dedicated features to ensure that the detailed design is manufacturable and avoid trial and error on the shop floor. The lay-up of the composite plies onto the mould tool is simulated to identify areas where the part geometry will cause fabric distortion. The engineer can then add darts or splices or make other changes to the ply and receive immediate feedback on whether the changes have corrected the design problem. The program then automatically generates the resulting pattern No49 June 2009 / jec composites magazine 35

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JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #49 - June 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #49 - June 2009