CompositesWorld
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14 CompositesWorld DESIGN & TESTING AUGUST 2015 ABOUT THE AUTHOR David Leigh Hudson is director of product and market strategy for the Fibersim product portfolio at Siemens PLM Software (Waltham, MA, US), a business unit of Siemens Digital Factory Div. Hudson joined the company when Siemens acquired Vistagy Inc. in December 2011. During his tenure with Vistagy, prior to assuming a product portfolio leadership position, he served as technical services manager, supporting sales, services and distribution channels for the Asia-Pacifc region. He received a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and a BS in accountancy at Bentley University (Waltham, MA, US). this software-based capability is where the true fber orientations can be known and then can be exchanged with those who do the analysis, as illustrated in Fig. 1, p. 12. Taking a closer look, the detailed design process is started by importing the material lay-up from the analyzed fnite element model and applying it to the CAD part. Next, the designer and manufacturing engineer, together, elect the best lay-up process and simulate it in the CAD environment, making the detailed part the basis for understanding the resulting material fber orientations (Fig .2). Te resulting material properties and true fber orientations are then passed back to the analyst's pre-/post- solution, ensuring that local fber orientations are known; thus, the analyst no longer is relying on theoretical orientations. Te result is a part identifed by correlating non-linear analysis with real part behavior, and can be designed within tight safety margins. Delivering an optimized composite part requires that the fber orientations of the production part fall within tolerance of an analyst's desired part, which requires consistent manufacturing. Today, the majority of composite parts are still produced with manual lay-up processes, which innately introduce the risk of inconsistency. Although consistency increases when automated manufacturing processes are employed, additional constraints are introduced, which can afect fber orientations, thus impacting designed performance. In the case of automated tape laying and fber placement methods, for example, intended fber orienta- tion can be constrained by material radius-of-curvature limits. To ensure consistency, then, it is always necessary to compare the as-manufactured fber orientations with the as-designed orienta- tions (Fig. 3), and to communicate the simulated lay-up process used in part and fat pattern development (Fig. 4). Consistency can be achieved by simulating the manufacturing process in the context of the desired fber orientations, ensuring delivery of an optimized composite part for performance and manufacturing. To learn more, register for Siemens PLM Software's Webinar on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2015: attendee.gotowebinar.com/ register/2967250198386487298