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The simulation of composite structures presents several unique challenges. Using OptiAssist and the powerful FEA solver, GENESIS, enables you to assess and rapidly develop composite laminates through analysis, optimisation and laminate exploration tools. For both those experienced and relatively new to composites, OptiAssist’s tools provide unique insights into the efficient placement of fibres to maximise structural performance.

COMPOSITE MODELLER FOR SIMULATION

OptiAssist delivers fast, efficient and flexible laminate definition for FEA simulation studies. Data is created and managed in the GENESIS PCOMPG property format, additionally supporting export to Nastran and LS-DYNA formats. Key to managing complex laminates is the ability to manipulate data easily. Composite Modeller achieves this through: - Ply shorthand creation - Multiple ply edit functions (for material, orientation, thickness and coverage) - Ply mirroring - Laminate import from multiple 3rd party tools including ANSA, HyperMesh & Simcenter 3D - Ply Draping for mechanical property creation (geodesic, path & projection methods) - Property calculation for filament wound sections

COMPOSITE ANALYSIS TOOLS

Composites require specific analysis and post-processing capabilities to understand and evaluate structural performance. OptiAssist provides dedicated features for the composite user, including through thickness interrogation of Failure Index, Reserve Factor and fibre direction stress. Identify causes of first-ply failure and understand through thickness behaviour in seconds. Other composite specific features include: - Multiple standard & optional user-defined Failure Index methods - Interlaminar shear stress evaluation and reporting - 3D orthotropic materials for solid composite support

LAMINATE EXPLORATION

Providing you with insights and design exploration tools, OptiAssist and Genesis provides unique features for improving the understanding of your laminate designs.

• - Ply Sensitivity Plotter – Rank and plot the contribution of plies to your design’s structural responses. Understand which plies are driving performance and which may be changed with little design influence.
• - Real Time Response – Add and remove plies from your laminate and obtain live structural performance predictions without needing to run further FEA simulations. Live predictions give you the information needed to make informed decisions in limited timescales, evaluating laminate changes instantaneously.

LAMINATE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH OPTIMISATION

Developed through nearly 2 decades of working with championship winning Formula 1 Teams, OptiAssist and Genesis are established as the industry standard tool for composite laminate optimisation. No other product on the market provides the extensive ply shape and laminate optimisation capabilities available in OptiAssist, taking into account design and manufacturing rules that include:

• - Laminate thickness & material fraction control
• - Optimisation for stiffness, strength, vibration and buckling performance
• - Layup variation constraints to limit laminate complexity
• - Ply linking controls for symmetry and grouping

Understanding the feasibility of manufacturing your composite laminates is a vital part of the composite design process. OptiAssist’s ply draping tools enable seamless transmission from FEA based laminates to those suitable for conveying to manufacturing or to directly create and evaluate laminate for production.

COMPOSITE MODELLER FOR MANUFACTURING

Defining a laminate for FEA or for manufacturing feasibility consider very different requirements. OptiAssist’s composite modeller for manufacturing supports your manufacturing workflows, through efficient ply draping algorithms. Obtain real-time feedback on the introduction of cuts, variation of application points to define your manufacturable laminates. With built in rules to define ply staggers and automatically sub-divide large coverage plies to manufacturing sub-patches. Transfer data to and from the composite modeller environment using the CATIA layup file format, allowing data exchange between you and your partners.

MANUFACTURING DOCUMENTS - PLY BOOK GENERATION

Ply book generation can be a very time consuming and repetitive task with communication of laminate information from FEA data often being a significant bottleneck. OptiAssist’s Composite Reporter tool provides a genuinely unique product solution with its interactive ply book builder module. Use the ply book builder to: - Communicate FEA laminate information to your composite design department - Generate ply books directly for part manufacture The interactive module allows individual view definition, ply dimensioning and ply annotation, ensuring ply books efficiently communicate laminates to manufacturing and design. Working in Microsoft PowerPoint format plybooks can continually be updated and edited, allowing saving to pdf for distribution.

FLAT PATTERN AND PLY SHAPE PLACEMENT

Communicating ply data to manufacturing requires the export of flat pattern data in 2D CAD format. OptiAssist’s Composite Reporter automatically exports flat patterns in DXF format for each selected ply, enabling transfer to manufacturing cutting machines

Ply patterns ‘in-situ’ can also be exported in STL, IGES or BDF format to allow direct overlay to part geometry in your design software.

FLEXIBLE IMPORT & EXPORT FORMATS

Key to managing composite data is the ability to exchange data between suppliers and customers, using different design, simulation and manufacturing software. OptiAssist supports the following key data formats:

• - Microsoft PowerPoint plybook format
• - CATIA Layup file format for laminate import and export
• - DXF 2D CAD format for flat pattern export
• - IGES, STL & DAT format of export of ply placements on part geometry
• - Genesis, Nastran & LS-DYNA FEA data formats model data export
• - ANSA, CATIA, Laminate Tools, Simcenter 3D and HyperMesh laminate data import