JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #105 - June 2016 - 19

Market

software

An abundance of composite
simulation software
There is a multitude of software programmes used in the composite industry. This comes as no surprise, given that the number of
computer-aided design and finite element analysis programmes
for any mechanical activity is already huge. In our industry, however, there is also the fact that many different processes are in
use, requiring many different computer-aided engineering software
programmes. Here, we try to sort through some of them.

or neophytes: Computer-aided
design (CAD), creates the model
and the shape, and computer-aided
engineering (CAE), which includes
finite element analysis (FEA), tests
the characteristics of the materials for
properties like strength, resistance, and
fatigue. A software programme, even
a "smart" one, is really no more than a
complex computer code. Users need to
have a notion of the underlying physics
in order to exploit the FEA, and be able
to simplify the problem just enough to
reduce the calculation times. It involves
creating a network (meshing) for the
required shape and analysing the chosen
properties at each point or interface of
the mesh. A pre-processor is used to
create the mesh, a solver (sometimes
with plug-ins) for the calculations, and a
postprocessor to enable visualization of
the numerical results.

The case of composites
For composites, the material is generally
made simultaneously with the part. The
process/properties linkage is particularly
strong. Progress still needs to be made
to fully reassure manufacturers, especially in the aeronautical and automotive
industries (even if with metals, there had

- An abundance
of composite simulation
software ......................p19
- ANSYS beefs up its offer
for composites with its
version 17.0 .................p22
- A new lab in Brazil.... p24

already been a gigantic step taken before
us, and it was not necessarily easier
then). In metal swaging, for example, the
modulus of elasticity is modified locally
and a spring effect has to be factored in to
obtain parts with the desired net shape;
whereas for composites, the angles tend
to close up after cure.

Requisite progress
and consolidation
There is still progress to be made
before we manage to entirely abandon
the "black metal" influence, which for
carbon parts means just copying the
shapes of the metal equivalents without
fully exploiting the anisotropic properties of composites. One of a number of
initiatives is the Composites Design and
Manufacturing Hub (cdmHUB) created
by the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI)
in the United States, to address the need
to double down on the efforts and synergies. The so-called "Industry 4.0" is fully
automated and has a huge need of highperformance software. Although there is
already an abundant software offer, there
is room for improvement. Table 1 below
shows more than 160 software programmes used in the composite industry.
Even this is an incomplete list, because
the proprietary software for machinery
and those used in research laboratories
No105 June 2016 /

jec composites magazine 19

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #105 - June 2016