FEM Simulation of 3D Fiber Structures

Altair Forum User
Altair Forum User
Altair Employee
edited October 2020 in Community Q&A

Dear HyperWorks Team,

 

I have a question regarding the Fiber Optimization with Optistruct.

Is it possible to not limit the optimization of Fiber Directions inside a solid to a 2D layer? 

 

More specifically I am working on a project where we put Carbon Fiber Tows into a Wooden Base Product in a completely free manner (the Carbon Fibers can be put as fully three-dimensional Spline Curves inside the Base Material). Therefor I am looking for a Tool where I can simulate both

1. the Anisotropic behaviour of the Wood, built from various layers/directions

2. Optimize the 3D-Structure of Reinforcement Tows of Carbon Fiber inside this Base Material. 

 

I am pretty confident, that 1. is possible, but I couldn't find documentation for anything like what we want to do in 2. 

 

Can you help me out with this? 

Answers

  • Altair Forum User
    Altair Forum User
    Altair Employee
    edited May 2017

    Hi,

     

    1. the Anisotropic behaviour of the Wood, built from various layers/directions

    Yes it is possible to simulate anisotropic behavior in OptiStruct

    2. Optimize the 3D-Structure of Reinforcement Tows of Carbon Fiber inside this Base Material.

    Can you share more details, like what are the conditions, objective, constraints, etc...

  • Altair Forum User
    Altair Forum User
    Altair Employee
    edited May 2017

    Hello

     

    Thanks for the Quick Response.

     

    I am totally new to Hyperworks ... Basically I am searching for a Programm that can do what we need :)/emoticons/default_smile.png' srcset='/emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x' title=':)' width='20' />

     

    I would like to create Carbon-Fiber Reinforcements inside a block of Basematerial.

    For Example: Lets say I would produce a Block of Concrete, and I want to optimize a three-dimensional reinforcement layout, that will mostly take care of tensile forces. 

    Until now, we are basically calculating principal tensile stress directions and stress lines and base our Reinforcement pattern on this information. But I wonder if there might be a more advanced option available, that calculates a three-dimensional fiber layout. This becomes even more needed as we are not working with ratehr isotropic concrete, but with plywood and the cfrp tows will then 'cross' the plys. 

     

    summing up:

    1. I would like to model a piece of plywood, and obtain principal stresses and 3D-Stressvectors/planes inside the material

    2. I would like to get a intelligent three-dimensional reinforcement pattern of cfrp-tows so that the piece achieves a target stiffness/strength. the important detail being, that we do NOT want to put the tows along/parallel to the planes of the plys, but rather give them the geometric freedom of forming fully three-dimensional splines/loops (similar to how the stresslines in the material would look like). For now, we can fabricate them, but we can't calculate the optimal geometries...

     

    thanks for your help

    jakob w