Sublaminate Library Generation for Composite Part Optimization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current techniques for designing composite parts, such as aircraft wings, face challenges in ensuring strength while maintaining manufacturing efficiency, particularly for complex parts with varying fiber orientations across multiple panels.
Innovation Solution
A method is developed to create libraries of multi-layer sublaminates with unique fiber orientations using an integer tree, checking for compliance with stacking sequence rules, and generating new sublaminates by appending additional layers, optimizing fiber orientations for composite parts subdivided into panels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If current techniques are used to design composite parts with complex fiber orientations across multiple panels, then part strength can be ensured, but manufacturing efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the composite part into multiple panels, with each panel having its own sublaminate library of compliant stacking sequences. This allows independent optimization of each panel while ensuring overall part strength, resolving the contradiction between maintaining strength requirements and improving manufacturing efficiency across complex multi-panel structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent generates sublaminate libraries in advance that pre-comply with stacking sequence rules. By performing this compliance checking and library generation before the actual manufacturing process, the system eliminates time-consuming validations during production, thereby improving manufacturing efficiency while ensuring strength requirements are met.
2Reliability
If comprehensive checking of stacking sequence rules is performed for all possible sublaminates, then compliance with strength requirements is ensured, but the time and computational resources required increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs comprehensive stacking sequence rule checking and sublaminate generation in advance, storing results in pre-compliant libraries. This preliminary action ensures reliability and compliance while eliminating time-consuming checks during actual manufacturing, resolving the contradiction between thorough validation and time consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates reusable sublaminate libraries that can be copied and applied across multiple panels. Once a compliant sublaminate is validated, it can be replicated throughout the design, reducing the need to perform comprehensive checking repeatedly and significantly reducing total validation time while maintaining reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are provided for composite part design. One embodiment is a method of creating a library of sublaminates used in optimizing fiber orientations of a multi-layer composite part subdivided along its depth into panels that each comprise a fraction of the area of the composite part. The method includes creating sublaminates that each comprise consecutively stacked layers having a unique sequence of fiber orientations, checking the sublaminates for compliance with stacking sequence rules that constrain how fiber orientations are sequenced, and removing sublaminates that do not comply with the stacking sequence rules. The method further includes generating new sublaminates that each include an additional layer, by, for each of multiple fiber orientations: selecting a sublaminate that was not remove, and generating a new sublaminate by appending an additional layer having the fiber orientation to the selected sublaminate.