Co-authors​ :

 Friedrich TOEPFER (GERMANY), Nils HANISCH , Sebastian SPITZER (GERMANY), Leon SCHRÖDER (GERMANY), Lars BITTRICH , Axel SPICKENHEUER , Maik GUDE (GERMANY) 

The use of lightweight materials in the aerospace sector has the potential to contribute to the European Union's ambitious goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 75% by 2050. This potential is particularly evident using innovative technologies, to manufacture stress-adapted structures, as the Tailored Fiber Placement (TFP) manufacturing process. However, the design of such novel tailored, variable-axial composite structures is complex and assessment of its load-bearing capacity is challenging due to a strong relationship between geometry, composition and manufacturing process [1]. In order to increase the efficiency of the Engineering Design Process, it is essential to use reliable mechanical properties that take into account the manufacturing parameters of TFP. This is particularly important when dealing with several scales, as it is the case with a jet engine component, since the material scale provides important input parameters for the higher scales that follow. Furthermore, the modelling of tailored structures proves to be challenging when conventional simulation software is used [2, 3].
This paper discusses the material characterisation of tailored structures and how variable-axial TFP specimens can be numerically modelled. Various numerical approaches are considered and the differences between them are highlighted. A virtual-physical material characterization of a TFP-manufactured, guided vane for novel jet engine intermediate casings is presented. The validation procedure, based on the building block approach from coupon up to sub-system- and system-level, is also defined (cf. Figure 1). Physical tests of TFP specimens are conducted at both the coupon- and element-level and analysed. Thereby, the impact of the TFP-process on the material properties is described and compared with available literature data. Additionally, a numerical methodology for tailored specimens using EDOstructure software is developed, with its results contrasted against those from conventional simulations in Siemens NX. The presented numerical methods enable an efficient modelling of the tailored structures by plotting the fibre patterns (as dxf-files) from the manufacturing process directly on the model as initially explained [4]. This paper also shows the needed interacting and modelling steps as well as the data flow between the different software tools used.
The proposed method allows an effective and efficient design and dimensioning of variable-axial engine structures based on trustworthy data in the future.