Straightening out the Adoption of Variable Stiffness Composite Laminates in Aerospace Industry

Significant improvements in the mechanical performance of a laminated composite structure can be achieved by spatial variation of the stiffness properties within the laminate. Such a variable stiffness (VS) laminate, typically is created by steering the fibers within the laminae, resulting in an in-plane variation of stacking sequence and thus...

The effect of stacking sequence and circumferential ply drop locations on the mechanical response of type IV composite pressure vessels subjected to internal pressure: A numerical and experimental study

Type IV composite pressure vessels represent the current state-of-the-art for compressed gaseous hydrogen storage in fuel cell electric vehicles. A combination of highly demanding safety regulations and the need for cost competitive solutions make the topic of CPVs particularly challenging. Given the elevated material price of carbon fiber,...

Straight Fibre Variable Stiffness Laminates: Using laminate blending instead of fibre steering (PPT)

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Demonstration of a Computationally Efficient Method for Stacking Sequence Blending of Composite Laminates

Stacking sequence optimisation can be used to increase the strength or stiffness of a composite laminate, or to reduce its weight subject to a strength or stiffness constraint. Optimisation of larger composite structures consisting of multiple panels may result in stacking sequences of adjacent panels that are incompatible with one another. The...

Development of a generic geometry to test the limits of automated draping and stamp forming processes in composite manufacturing

There are many process parameters that are important in automated composite manufacturing, starting with the handling of fabrics in the preforming process. Characterization of fabrics on their preforming qualities – which will be referred to as drapability in this paper – is necessary to tune the manufacturing process. The location where the...

(Blended Learning)2: Blending content- and learning-oriented objectives in a blended learning environment

Large classroom sizes are a reality university educators need to contend with, particularly in the first year of a given cohort within a degree programme. Activating and engaging students in these large classroom environments present numerous sets of challenges. These challenges are exacerbated by student learning development needs in the early...

Optimum lay-up design of variable stiffness composite structures

Advancements in automated fibre-placement (AFP) technology make it possible to take laminate tailoring further than just stacking sequence optimisation; they enable the designer to vary the fibre orientation angle spatially within each ply. Spatial variation of fibre orientation angles results in a variable stiffness (VS) laminate. The work...

Design of Fiber-steered Variable-stiffness Laminates Based on a Given Lamination Parameters Distribution

Mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced laminated composite materials are directionally dependent. Contemporary laminated composite design aims to make effective use of these directional properties by means of stacking sequence design, selecting the fiber orientation angle of each ply from a predefined set. Automated fiber-placement (AFP)...