Software Suite for Material Qualification and FEA Based Durability, Damage Tolerance, Reliability & Life Prediction

Issue #20 - April 13th, 2010

Software Suite for Material Qualification and FEA Based Durability, Damage Tolerance, Reliability & Life Prediction

GENOA 4.4 Software Release News

GENOA's Material Qualification and Characterization (MCQ) Module

Figure 1 - MCQ Generated Ply Properties Features of MCQ: -          Laminate properties (mechanical-thermal/electrical) -          Load limits and damage/failure modes -          "As-built" and "as-is" material state -          Manufacturing defects and environmental effects   -          2D/3D composite architectures; Polymers  (Thermosets, Thermoplastic, and Chopped Fiber), Fiber-Metal-Laminate, Nano, and ceramics -          Allowables and carpet plots for test reduction -          Mesh-less unit cell simulation -          Accurate, robust, and user friendly -          Industry verified and endorsed

Alpha STAR released GENOA's MCQ forWindows 2000/XP/Vista/7 and Linux. It enables the ultra rapid modeling, design, and analysis of advanced polymer composites for aerospace, automotive, wind turbine, ship building, and infrastructure industries. MCQ uses a unit cell approach for assessing material behavior not requiring finite element modeling. It is applicable to all un-notched laminates where uniform state of stress persists. MCQ models all types of composite architectures including tape, 2-D /3-D woven and braided materials using simplistic multi-scale physics based micro-mechanics formulation. It accounts for "as built" and "as-is" state taking into consideration manufacturing defects and effect of uncertainties in material properties and specimen geometry.

MCQ is a one "stop shop" for:
(1) generating thermo-mechanical-electrical properties of laminated composites; (2) predicting laminate strength, damage and failure modes, and (3) generating material design envelope, carpet plots, and A- and B-Basis strength allowables. It relies on physics based multi-scale failure mechanisms to predict laminate behavior. Strength- and strain-based failure criteria accounting for matrix cracking, de-lamination, fiber failure and interaction between fiber and matrix are evaluated to determine conditions for damage initiation and growth and final failure.

Figure 2 - Design Failure Envelope Progression for a [0,90,45,-45] Symmetric Layup

Figure 3 - Virtual Generation of Allowables [1,2]: Cumulative Distribution Function Generated by Simulation Compared to Limited Test data for Polymer Composites at 180 F with 85% Relative Humidity (Aged Moisture)

MCQ is ideal for providing quick, simplistic, easy to use, and in-expensive guide to material selection. Accurate estimation of material properties plays a very important role in delivering a design that meets cost and production schedule requirements. MCQ comes with a dedicated data base of material properties for glass, carbon, ceramics and other systems. The code is designed for use by engineers and scientists who use micro-mechanics (fiber/matrix/interphase) type input and those who use macro-mechanics (ply level input). MCQ delivers accurate stiffness and strength properties as input to your Durability and Damage Tolerance (D&DT) evaluation.

 

Figure 4 - Material Performance Envelop Generated by the Software

MCQ Performs composite laminate analysis considering "as-built" and/or "as-is" material states: manufacturing anomalies (i.e., void size/shape, fiber waviness, interphase coating), design (i.e., ply orientation, thickness, 2D/3D architecture).

• Fiber, Matrix, and Lamina Calibration
  Reverse engineer effective linear fiber/matrix properties from lamina or laminate test data (strength and stiffness). The effective properties accounts for the thermal residual stresses and interface due to curing process. 
• Non-Linear Material Characterization Optimization (MCO)
  Reverse engineers effective fiber, matrix, ply non-linear properties (stress strain curves) from ply or from laminate test data.
• Ply Level Analysis
  Predicts equivalent ply properties (mechanical/thermal/electrical) using fiber matrix properties as input. Example of mechanical properties (Figure 1) is ply strength in 11, 22, 33, 12, 23, and 13 directions. Example of electrical properties is ply and laminate conductivity.
• Laminate Analysis
  Predict equivalent laminate properties using fiber/matrix or ply properties as input. The properties calculated include laminate strength and stiffness, and electrical and thermal properties as well.
• Design Failure Envelope
  Predicts design failure envelope for chosen failure criteria for laminates. Strength, strain, and interactive based failure mechanisms are available (Figure 2). Fiber failure under tension/compression including micro-buckling, matrix cracking under tension and compression and delamination (in-plane and out-of-plane) are determined for the ply and the laminate. Several Failure Criteria can be compared for better understanding and comparison against test data.
• Ply Characterization
  Graphically shows variation in strength as a function of ply orientation and fiber or void volume ratio
• A- & B- Basis Allowables
  Rapid and accurate prediction of A- and B-basis strength allowables for un-notched uniformly stressed coupons. This module provides the option of predicting allowables from a minimal number of test replicates. With a dedicated sensitivity analysis one can determine the influence of manufacturing parameters and material properties on the laminate strength. This helps reduce the scatter and improve the performance of the material (Figure 3 & 4).
• Parametric Carpet Plot
  Generate multiple carpet plots that show variation in thermo-mechanical properties, including strength, stiffness and thermal expansion, with variation in ply layup distributions (Figure 5). This capability is ideal for use at the beginning of a new program as it provides an accurate and a complete map of the material properties providing alternate design options rapidly and at low cost.

Figure 5 - Carpet Plot of Laminate Strength as Function of 0, 45, and 90 degrees Ply Angles (Red = Fiber Failure, Green = Matrix Failure, Blue = Matrix Shear Failure)

References: 
1. Galib Abumeri, Frank Abdi, and Mike Lee, "Verification of Virtual Generation of A- and B-Basis Allowables for Polymer Composites Subject to Various Environmental Conditions", SAMPE 2009 China Conference. Click here to email us for the technical publication.

2. DOT/FAA/AR-03/19, Final Report, "Material Qualification and Equivalency for Polymer Matrix Composite Material System: Updated Procedure" Office of Aviation Research, Washington, D.C. 20591, U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration, September, 2003.Click here to email us for the technical publication.

Visit us today and find out more about GENOA at www.ascgenoa.com.

Click here to read the full technical product data sheet of GENOA.

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