2012 FALL WORKSHOP FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITES

DAN MILLIGAN, FIREHOLE COMPOSITES MILLIGAND@FIREHOLE.COM

Why Do This Talk? The Composites EXPLOSION

Composites are expanding into new markets - UPS has just put in an order for 150 composite body vehicles. Composites are becoming more used everyday Exelis predicts that the market for composite structures will grow from $4 Trillion USD to $12 Trillion in 10 years.

Now The ChallengeHow Do We Design and Analyze These New Composite Applications
Limited Budgets, Limited Materials and Limited Time all lead to Finite Element Analysis
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A Little About My Composites Experience

I have worked as a Composites Engineering Consultant for Firehole Composites for 7+ years. I have seen some interesting FEA analysis techniques and I would like to highlight some of those today

I also got to work at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory when the Mars Curiosity Rover was being designed and composite part studies and trade-offs were being investigated.

What I Want To Talk About

1. Finite Element Modeling of Composite Part Recommendations A. Setting up the Best FEA Model

B. Moving from 2D to 3D Modeling 2. Determining Composite Failure A. Composite Failure Theories B. Progressive Failure

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BETTER FEA MODEL DESIGN

Boundary Condition Stress Concentrations

Fixed or Encastre BCs on plate ends

Boundary Condition Stress Concentrations

Fixed or Encastre BCs on plate ends

BETTER APPROACH

Applying Pressure To Composite Cross-Sections

Applying Pressure to a composite cross-section meshed with 1 element per ply

Applying Pressure To Composite Cross-Sections

Applying Pressure to a composite cross-section meshed with 1 element per ply

BETTER APPROACH

Use displacement equations or coupling constraints to enforce uniform displacement of end and apply a concentrated force to control point.
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Poor Mesh Creation

Letting a mesh be generated automatically

Geometric complexities in an FEA model often times will result in poor mesh quality. Elements with high aspect ratios >7:1 Elements with large (or small) interior angles >135 or <45

Both of these conditions reduce the accuracy of the element calculations.

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Poor Mesh Creation

Letting a mesh be generated automatically

BETTER APPROACH: Use partitions to improve element quality

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Poor Mesh Creation

Letting a mesh be generated automatically

BETTER APPROACH: Try different automatic meshing algorithms to get best quality

In Abaqus, used medial axis algorithm instead of advancing front algorithm.

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Improper Symmetry Constraint Use

Using symmetry boundary conditions to reduce element count in symmetric composite structures Example: Use symmetry boundary conditions to model of an axially loaded [30/-30/90]3 tube meshed with 1 element per ply. The 30 plies want to shear as they are axially pulled. By constraining these plies with symmetric boundary conditions, artificial stress concentrations are generated.

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Improper Symmetry Constraint Use

Using symmetry boundary conditions to reduce element count in symmetric composite structures BETTER APPROACH: Bite the bullet and model the full structure.

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MOVE BEYOND 2D

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What Is A Full 3D Analysis?

z Use FEA modeling techniques that capture 3D stresses in a composite part

xz xy x

yz

A 2D analysis ignores or estimates 3 of the 6 stress components

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Why Do We Need A Full 3D Analysis?

Failure of a composite part cannot be accurately predicted without using 3D stresses (or strains) in a composites appropriate failure criterion.

Example: DELAMINATION
Delamination is caused by interlaminar shear stresses and through-thickness normal stresses. This can only be captured with access to 3D stresses.

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When To Use 3D Analysis

Skin-Stringer Thick Wall Pressure Vessel Joints - bolt pretension - lap shear - scarf joints

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cstcomposites.com

structuralmechanics.com

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How To Set Up A 3D Analysis

Starting with 3D geometry Mesh the part using 3D elements

3D solid elements with 1 (or more) element(s) per composite ply. 3D layered solid elements with a minimum of 4 elements through-the-thickness. Accuracy Cost

3D layered continuum shell elements with 1 element through-the-thickness

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How To Set Up A 3D Analysis

3D solid elements with 1 (or more) element(s) per composite ply.

All 6 stress components can be directly extracted from elements

This will cause the size of your model to be large. Restricted to use for coupons and subcomponents.

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How To Set Up A 3D Analysis

3D layered solid elements with a minimum of 4 elements through-the-thickness.

All 6 stress components can be directly extracted from elements, HOWEVER, interlaminar shear stress calculations are less accurate.
4 elements through-thethickness are required to capture proper bending stiffness. Restricted to use for coupons and sub-components.

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How To Set Up A 3D Analysis

3D layered continuum shell elements with 1 element through-the-thickness Shell theory assumes z is zero.
plies

With shell theory, out-of-plane shear stresses are not directly output (can be calculated indirectly depend on input transverse shear stiffness values). Typically used for full component. NOT RECOMMENDED for detailed analysis.

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How To Set Up A 2.5D Analysis

Starting with 2D geometry Mesh the part using 2D elements

Accuracy

Cost

2D layered conventional shell elements

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How To Set Up A 2.5D Analysis

2D layered conventional shell elements Shell theory assumes z is zero.
plies

With shell theory, out-of-plane shear stresses are not directly output (can be calculated indirectly depend on input transverse shear stiffness values). Typically used for full component. NOT RECOMMENDED for detailed analysis.

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How To Set Up A 3D Analysis Material Properties

3D analyses require 2 additional material properties that are sometimes difficult to find for the composite material(s) being analyzed: 23 interlaminar Poisson ratio Typical values for UD materials: carbon fiber/epoxy = 0.5 glass/epoxy = 0.41 S23 transverse shear strength Typical value for UD materials: S23 = |0.33(S22-)|

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COMPOSITE FAILURE THEORIES

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Composite Failure Theories

Max Stress Max Strain Tsai Hill Tsai Wu Christensen Hashin Puck MCT

Simplest to use but not good for multiaxial loads

Better correlation for multi-axial loads but do not provide failure modes

Provide composite failure modes (matrix or fiber) but are most complex to use

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Composite Failure Theories

Max Stress Max Strain Tsai Hill Tsai Wu Christensen Hashin Puck MCT

Require only in-plane stresses (strains) and strengths (strains-to-failure)

Require 3D stresses and strengths

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Composite Failure Theories

Max Stress Max Strain Tsai Hill Tsai Wu Christensen Hashin Puck MCT

Require experimental correlation

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Composite Failure Theories

Max Stress Max Strain Tsai Hill Tsai Wu Christensen Hashin Puck Predicts failure based on fiber and matrix MCT stresses (not composite ply stresses)
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Composite Failure Theories

Max Stress Max Strain Tsai Hill Tsai Wu Christensen Hashin Puck MCT

WHICH ONE SHOULD I USE ???

Cop Out Answer: Use multiple failure criteria until you get a feel for which one provides you the most useful information for your purposes But if youre making a blind prediction tomorrow, this presenter uses and would recommend MCT
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flyingblades.blogspot.com

PROGRESSIVE FAILURE

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What Is Progressive Failure

Progressive failure predicts both composite failure:

initiation Use a composite failure criterion to predict when a ply (element) has failed.
progression When an element fails, the stiffness of the element is reduced so that stress is redistributed around the failed element and increases the stress level of adjacent elements.

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Uses For Progressive Failure

Ultimate Failure Predictions Load Displacement Curves

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Uses For Progressive Failure

Ultimate Failure Predictions Carpet Plots

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Uses For Progressive Failure

Failure Mode Determination

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Wrap - Up
I am happy to email a copy of this presentation, email me at:

milligand@firehole.com

I write a composites analysis blog that I invite you to follow: info.firehole.com/blog

I also invite you to connect with me on LinkedIn

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