System and method for designing composite laminates using lamination parameters
First Claim
1. A method of manufacturing a composite laminate, comprising:
- performing steps (a) through (h) in a finite element analysis program executed by a processor of a computer;
a) computing a normalized set of lamination parameters and laminate stiffness matrices of an initial laminate design of the composite laminate based on an initial laminate thickness;
b) generating a finite element model of the composite laminate;
c) determining optimum values for the laminate thickness and corresponding optimum values of the lamination parameters based on the normalized set of lamination parameters and laminate stiffness matrices and the initial laminate thickness, and based on at least one of strength constraints and stiffness constraints associated with a loading condition applied to the finite element model when determining the optimum values for the laminate thickness and the corresponding optimum values of the lamination parameters;
d) adjusting an optimum value of the laminate thickness;
e) performing an inversion process extracting multiple solutions from the optimum values of the lamination parameters, each solution representing an optimized design model of the composite laminate at an adjusted laminate thickness and including a unique set of individual fiber angles for each ply of the optimized design model of the composite laminate;
f) selecting from the multiple solutions a preferred solution for the optimized design model of the composite laminate based on lamination layup criteria;
g) performing a design verification of the preferred solution to determine if margin of safety requirements are met;
h) repeating steps (c) through (g) until an optimized design model is obtained that meets the margin of safety requirements; and
laying up the composite laminate in an optimum laminate thickness and with optimum fiber angles according to the optimized design model.
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Abstract
A method of generating an optimized design model for a composite laminate may include computing a normalized set of lamination parameters and laminate stiffness matrices of an initial laminate design, and determining, using an optimizer operating on a finite element model, optimum values for the lamination parameters and the laminate thickness. The method may further include adjusting the optimum value of the laminate thickness, and performing an inversion process extracting multiple solutions from the lamination parameters, each solution including a unique set of individual fiber angles for each ply and representing an optimized design model of the composite laminate.
5 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of manufacturing a composite laminate, comprising:
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performing steps (a) through (h) in a finite element analysis program executed by a processor of a computer; a) computing a normalized set of lamination parameters and laminate stiffness matrices of an initial laminate design of the composite laminate based on an initial laminate thickness; b) generating a finite element model of the composite laminate; c) determining optimum values for the laminate thickness and corresponding optimum values of the lamination parameters based on the normalized set of lamination parameters and laminate stiffness matrices and the initial laminate thickness, and based on at least one of strength constraints and stiffness constraints associated with a loading condition applied to the finite element model when determining the optimum values for the laminate thickness and the corresponding optimum values of the lamination parameters; d) adjusting an optimum value of the laminate thickness; e) performing an inversion process extracting multiple solutions from the optimum values of the lamination parameters, each solution representing an optimized design model of the composite laminate at an adjusted laminate thickness and including a unique set of individual fiber angles for each ply of the optimized design model of the composite laminate; f) selecting from the multiple solutions a preferred solution for the optimized design model of the composite laminate based on lamination layup criteria; g) performing a design verification of the preferred solution to determine if margin of safety requirements are met; h) repeating steps (c) through (g) until an optimized design model is obtained that meets the margin of safety requirements; and laying up the composite laminate in an optimum laminate thickness and with optimum fiber angles according to the optimized design model. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of manufacturing a composite laminate, comprising:
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performing steps (a) through (h) in a finite element analysis program executed by a processor of a computer; a) computing a normalized set of lamination parameters and laminate stiffness matrices of an initial laminate design of a composite laminate configured as a non-traditional laminate having an initial laminate thickness; b) generating a finite element model of the composite laminate for analysis in a finite element analysis application; c) determining optimum values for the laminate thickness and corresponding optimum values of the lamination parameters based on the normalized set of lamination parameters and laminate stiffness matrices and the initial laminate thickness, the lamination parameters being independent of one another for each finite element in the finite element model d) adjusting the optimum value of the laminate thickness until a total ply quantity is an integer; e) performing an inversion process extracting multiple solutions from the lamination parameters, each solution representing an optimized design model of a steered fiber laminate at an adjusted laminate thickness and including a unique set of individual fiber angles that vary within a plane of each ply of the optimized design model of the steered fiber laminate; f) selecting from the multiple solutions a preferred solution for the optimized design model of the steered fiber laminate based on lamination layup criteria; g) performing a design verification of the preferred solution of the optimized design model to determine if margin of safety requirements are met; h) repeating steps (c) through (g) until an optimized design model of the steered fiber laminate is obtained that meets the margin of safety requirements; and laying up the steered fiber laminate in an optimum laminate thickness and with optimum fiber angles according to the optimized design model.
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13. A processor-based system for manufacturing a composite laminate, comprising:
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a processor; a memory communicatively coupled to the processor and storing instructions of a finite element analysis program that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor-based system to perform as; a normalizer configured to compute a normalized set of lamination parameters and laminate stiffness matrices of an initial laminate design of the composite laminate at an initial laminate thickness; a finite element model generator configured to generate a finite element model of the composite laminate for analysis in a finite element analysis application; an optimizer configured to determine optimum values for the laminate thickness and corresponding optimum values of the lamination parameters based on the normalized set of lamination parameters and laminate stiffness matrices and the initial laminate thickness; a laminate thickness adjuster configured to adjust the optimum value of the laminate thickness; a matrix inverter configured to perform an inversion process extracting multiple solutions from the lamination parameters, each solution representing an optimized design model of the composite laminate at an adjusted laminate thickness and including a unique set of individual fiber angles for each ply of the optimized design model of the composite laminate; a solution selector configured to select from the multiple solutions a preferred solution for the optimized design model based on lamination layup criteria; a design verifier configured to perform a design verification of the optimized design model to determine if margin of safety requirements are met; an output file generator configured to generate an output file representing the optimized design model of the composite laminate; wherein the normalizer, the finite element model generator, the optimizer, the laminate thickness adjuster, the matrix inverter, the solution selector, the design verifier, and the output file generator are embedded in the finite element analysis program which optimizes the lamination parameters in an iterative manner until converging on the optimized design model; and a machine configured to execute the output file and lay up the composite laminate in an optimum laminate thickness and with optimum fiber angles according to the optimized design model. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification