PREDICTION OF PROCESS-INDUCED DEFECTS BY PLY-DROPS IN THE DESIGN OPTIMIZATION OF A COMPLEX COMPOSITE LAMINATE
Abstract
The objective of this work is to characterize manufacturing process-induced warping
defects due to ply drops in composite laminates to guide composite laminate design.
Composite laminate optimization seeks weight efficient models, but the process can also
generate complex ply geometry, which compounds the challenges of the already rigorous
composite laminate manufacturing process. Increased design complexity enhances the
likelihood of manufacturing process-induced defects like warping; therefore, it is important
to predict such defects in the design phase to make the product more efficient yet
producible and thereby avoid such defects. This work study is manufacturing process
induced warpage in complex composite laminates from a three-phase design optimization
process that includes composite free size conceptual design ply sizing optimization, and
stacking sequence optimization. A mathematical model that could be included in
optimization process could help eliminate these defects in the design phase. Consequently,
an Analytical model was developed to predict warpage and was compared with
experimental and finite element models. The full-size optimized laminate was fabricated,
to understand the manufacturing defects for an actual composite laminate. The results
obtained from the analytical model correlated with the results of experimental and finite
element models. Hence, the mathematical model could be incorporated into the three
phase optimization process