Finite element simulations for composite material structures

Composite materials offer tremendous mechanical performance with reduced weight. However, the high cost and complexity of designing and manufacturing composites usually offset the benefit of using these materials. Our engineers can easily compute the laminate properties of composite structures before manufacturing them through various processes such as filament winding, draping, etc. and thus optimize structures and take advantage of composites for time-critical manufacturing processes.

This section is dedicated to finite element simulation of composite structures.

Material definition/equivalent properties in composite database

Composite database with equivalent property curves

D2S not only helps engineers design and validate composite parts in static and dynamic analysis, but also offers services that cover the whole project from start to finish :

Measurements: (see Monitoring)
- Displacements
- Stresses & Strains
- Force, Torque, Power
- Eigenfrequencies & eigenmodes (modal analysis)
- Vibration level
- Signature analysis
- Measurement of dynamic stiffness
- Dynamic excitations (impact, shaker, …)
- Telemetry
- …
Numerical Simulations:
- Generation of digital model based on FEM (nodes, elements)
- Structural mechanical analysis for beam, shell and 3D solid structures
- Combination of isotropic and composite materials is possible
- Dedicated composite material database : creation of fibers, matrices, plies using micromechanical mixture rules (UD, Fabrics, isotropic cores, orthotropic cores, isotropic mats, orthotropic mats, solids...), laminates or lay-ups of plies ...
- Affectation of composite material to the model taking into account the draping process (filament winding, hand lay-up,...)
- Application of boundary conditions and loadings (force, pressure, imposed displacement, self-weight, centrifugal loads, accelerations ...)
- Linear static analysis : calculation of displacements, reaction forces, stresses and strains, etc…
- Linear thermo-elasticity
  
  Tsai criterion on hull
- Linear buckling
- Linear dynamic analysis : eigenfrequencies and eigenmodes, harmonic response analysis, modal analysis, stochastic analysis …
- Non-Linear analysis : large displacements and contact with or without friction
- Dedicated postprocessing for composite structures :
  - Failure assessment
    - Maximum stress criteria
    - General quadratic criteria: Tsai-Wu, Tsai-Hill, Hoffman, Hashin
    - General linear criteria, depending of tension /compression response
    - Multi-criteria approach to identify shell elements critical failure. (identify matrix and fiber failure modes)
    - Critical value (and corresponding ply) through laminate
  - Stresses, strains and criteria recovery
    - Results at top and bottom face of each ply
    - Stresses and strains in ply orthotropic frame, laminate frame, or element frame
    - Fringe plots or curve plots available for all stresses, criteria and critical ply number.
    - ...

Application domain: Static & dynamic loading of composite structures for transport industry (automotive, railway, aerospace, marine…)

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