Composite Stress Toolbox

Composite stress toolbox functionality.

Introduction

Composite stress toolbox functionality is provided in the right-click context menu for relevant entities. Engineering constants and relevant material/laminate matrices can be calculated for:
  • Materials
  • Plies
  • Zones
  • Laminates
Figure 1.

Engineering Constants

Dependent on the selected entity type, different analyses are executed upon selection of Engineering Constants.
  • Selection of multiple entities of the same type is also supported and generates multiple tabs in the Engineering Constants result view which contain the corresponding results.
  • Results can be marked with left-click (or Ctrl + left-click for multiple results) and then saved to clipboard with Ctrl + C for transfer to spreadsheet.
Materials
Material calculations include:
  • Engineering constants
  • 2D/3D material matrices

Calculations are output in the material system. Note that 3D properties can only be calculated for materials which provide the necessary data (for example, OptiStruct MAT9OR).

Plies
Py calculations include:
  • Engineering constants
  • 2D/3D material matrices

Calculations are output in the laminate’s material reference orientation. Accordingly, the ply angle entered in the ply Orientation field is used to transform the properties from ply fiber direction to the laminate material reference orientation. For more information, refer to Fiber Orientation.

Note that 3D properties can only be calculated for plies which have an assigned material which provides the necessary data (for example, OptiStruct MAT9OR).


Figure 2.
Laminates
Laminate calculations include:
  • Stiffness and compliance matrices
  • Homogenized engineering constants
  • Normalized homogenized matrices
If all plies of a laminate have an assigned shape, the analysis is provided for all zones of the selected laminate. If one or more plies in a Laminate do not have a Ply Shape assigned, no Laminate Zones are generated. Accordingly, laminate calculations are provided for the full stacking sequence as defined in the laminate.


Figure 3.
Zones
Zone calculations include:
  • Stiffness and compliance matrices
  • Homogenized engineering constants
  • Normalized homogenized matrices

Additionally, stacking sequence, thickness and number of layers are summarized for each zone.

Solver Specific Details

Entities created in the Composite Browser are assigned the most common solver card for a typical ply-based model. Properties and Shapes are filtered based on solver card to only display appropriate cards for a ply-based model. Additionally, in the OptiStruct profile, the appropriate card is set for laminate and ply entities upon creation.

OptiStruct
Entity Supported Cards
Laminate STACK
Material MAT1, MAT8, MAT9OR
Ply PLY
Zone None
Abaqus
Entity Supported Cards
Laminate Via property *SHELL_SECTION_COMPOSITE
Material *MATERIAL, with type ISOTROPIC, ENGINEERING CONSTANTS or LAMINA
Ply None
Zone None
Nastran
Entity Supported Cards
Laminate Via property *SHELL_SECTION_COMPOSITE
Material MAT1, MAT8
Ply None
Zone None