Assessment of process-induced deformations and stresses in ultra thick laminates using isoparametric 3D elements

Shape distortions are a common problem experienced during the manufacturing of fiber reinforced plastics and are commonly investigated for thinner components. The following study presents the analysis of shape distortions and residual stresses in Ultra-thick laminates using a coupled thermomechanical approach. Existing studies frequently use high resolution meshes with multiple elements over ply thickness. This approach is not feasibly for thicker structures due to the computational effort. A new curing cycle, adapted to the requirements of Ultra-thick laminates, is deployed. Residual stresses need to be quantified and accounted for in the structural analysis. Several test components are manufactured in non-crimped fabric, to generate comparable data on heat distribution within the laminate and to measure the spring-in angle. For the FE analysis 3D stacked composite brick elements are used. These combine several plies within each element and present an efficient way to analyse thicker composite structures. Substantial residual stresses are calculated in the curved section of the laminate. A discrepancy in the calculated and measured spring-in angle is most likely explained by the usage of a single-sided steel tooling and several debulking steps.