Composite De-Tooling Simulation Using an Improved Plate and Shell Theory base on Mechanics of Structure Genome

Abstract

Classical shell elements have difficulty to accurately capture the nonlinear throughthickness stress gradients and the stresses due to material anisotropy. The improved plate and shell theory by means of Mechanics of Structure Genome (MSG) appears as a feasible approach to reproduce high fidelity residual stress simulations in thermoset polymers while greatly reducing the computational time. The Structure Genome (SG) is defined as the smallest mathematical building block of the structure containing many such building blocks. For composite laminates, the reference surface can be described as a 2D continuum and the microstructure of every material point of this continuum is modeled by means of the specific SG, which is the material line of the transverse normal. Thereby, the original 3D anisotropic elasticity problem is cast in an intrinsic form and hence, arbitrarily large displacements and global rotations can be handled subjected only to strains being small. In this work the simulation of a continuous fiber-reinforced composite de-tooling process using two different approaches is presented, which are then compared against the detailed 3D FEA developed in the ABAQUS/COMPRO CCA platform. On the one hand, smeared though-thickness properties are considered in the ABAQUS/COMPRO CCA platform in order to minimize the amount three-dimensional solid elements required. On the other hand, the same simulation is carried out using the MSG-based plate and shell theory. The comparison of the results reveal that later methodology considerably reduces the computational time and cost without compromising the accuracy of displacement results and providing detailed stress distribution.