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16/05/2012 13:21

Pre SAMPE 2012 Special

Pre SAMPE 2012 Special - 10 Composite Design and Analysis Tips Tip 1 - Use unidirectional ply orientations to your advantage
Unidirectional composites have the unique properties of having a higher stiffness and strength in the direction parallel to the fibers. Use this to your advantage: 0 deg. layers - provide axial strength and stiffness, ideal for beams and colums that have the design purpose of resisting axial loads. +/- 45 deg. layers - provide shear/torsional strength and stiffness, ideal for torsion shafts and shear webs (I-beam webs). 90 deg. layers - provide transverse strength and stiffness, used primarily as a consolidating layer (keep everything together) and to provide most of the structural resistance in pressure vessels. Tip 2 - Use quasi-isotropic layups when unknown or multiple direction loads are applied A quasi-isotropic layup [0/45/90/-45] is able to support axial, transverse, and shear loading. Do not use a quasi-isotropic layup by default as a substitute for metal, use composites to their advantage: A quasi-isotropic layup is only 40% as stiff as a 0 deg. layup in the axial direction! A quasi-isotropic layup is only 60% as stiff as a +/- 45 deg. layup in shear!

http://info.firehole.com/blog/bid/145767/Pre-SAMPE-2012-Special-10-Composite-Design-and-Analysis-Tips?goback=%2Egde_1327417_mem-

s the anticipation builds for the SAMPE 2012 Conference in Baltimore, I wanted to take this time to list out 10 composite design and analysis tips that I have accumulated over my years of analyzing composite materials and structures.

For those attending SAMPE 2012, I encourage you to stop by the Firehole Composites booth (#1359) to meet and greet some of the Firehole employees (including the blog authors) and to talk us about any composites specific analysis/ design/simulation challenges you have. We will also be blogging live from SAMPE 2012 with composite tips and tricks mixed in with live coverage of the show, so check back with the blog next week! On to the tips...

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Pre SAMPE 2012 Special

16/05/2012 13:21

Tip 3 - Space ply angles as much as possible

[0/45/90/-45](3) instead of [0(3)/45(3)/90(3)/-45(3)]. This will help prevent delamination and will increase damage tolerance by resisting crack propagation.

Tip 8 - Estimate G23 as E33/3.0 for carbon/ epoxy plies and E33/2.82 for glass/epoxy plies
A unidirectional ply can be assumed to be transversely isotropic with 5 independent material properties: E11, E22, G12, v12, and G23. The first 4 are typically provided by material data sheets but G23 is often not. For transversely isotropic materials, G23 = E33/[2*(1+v23)]. v23 can be estimated as 0.5 for carbon/epoxy plies and as 0.41 for glass epoxy plies.

http://info.firehole.com/blog/bid/145767/Pre-SAMPE-2012-Special-10-Composite-Design-and-Analysis-Tips?goback=%2Egde_1327417_mem-

Tip 4 - Minimize the angle change between plies

[0/45/90/-45] instead of [0/90/45/-45]. This will help prevent delamination due to through-thickness shear stresses induced by high angle changes in adjacent plies. Plies oriented orthogonally to each other will try to Poisson in different directions under and applied load, upping the chance of delamination. Tip 5 - When using carbon fiber unidirectional plies, place a glass fabric ply on the outside to reduce the likelihood of damaging the stronger and stiffer carbon plies.

Tip 9 - Utilize that online material data

AGATE is a great source for common aerospace composite material data. Other sources include Prospector:Composites, MIL-HDBK-17, MatWeb, and manufacturers data sheets.

Tip 10 - Become (or stay) a lifelong learner

Get a composites design and analysis textbook. I learned from Herakovich back in school and now continuously reference Jones and Niu. All 3 highly recommended. Get on the internet, there is so much available. To get started, check out written by Dr. Scott Beckwith (SAMPE International Technical Director). Subscribe to this blog! There is plenty more coming in the years to follow.

Tip 6 - Keep at least 10% of the plies in a laminate in 1 of the 4 quasi-isotropic directions
Even for an axially loaded laminate, keep at least 10% of the plies oriented in the 90, 45, and -45 deg. directions. A 50/40/10 (50% 0s, 40% +/- 45s, 10% 90s) is a typically used laminate to resist primarily axial loads.

Tip 7 - To get a quasi-isotropic layup for filament would parts use a [30/-30/90] layup
A [0/45/90/-45] may not work for filament wound parts because of the 0 deg. layer and the difficulties winding this angle. A [30/-30/90] will work for filament wound parts.

Bonus Tip - Come to SAMPE 2012 and talk to as many people as possible, we all have our own tips
Tell everyone if you are attending SAMPE 2012 in the comments section below, or if you have any additional composite design and analysis tips of your own, lets here about them!

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