An effective simulation method for the laminated composite fan blade structure with fiber-draping analysis
Topic(s) : Material and Structural Behavior - Simulation & Testing
Co-authors :
Thuan HO-NGUYEN-TAN (KOREA, REPUBLIC OF), Minkook KIM , Soon Ho YOONAbstract :
The design and simulation of laminated composite fan blades have been received much attentions from researchers due to their excellent performance with the lightweight structures [1,2]. During the manufacturing process, the fiber orientations in a lamina ply may be changed to conform with the tool surfaces, that significantly impact the mechanical performance of laminated composite structures. Specifically, for fan blade structures exhibiting double geometric curvatures, accurate prediction of fiber path distortion during the hand lay-up process necessitates a thorough fiber-draping analysis.
This study presents an effective method for simulating laminated composite fan blade structure with the consideration of fiber-draping analysis. The middle shell finite element model with nodal thicknesses is used for the lamination design of the fan blade structure, as shown in Fig 1. To accurately predict fiber-draped orientations resulting from shell curvatures, a numerical kinematic method is proposed for fiber-draping analysis. The global, reference, and the draping coordinate systems are defined for this process, as illustrated in Fig 2. Unlike other existing methods [3,4], this approach is robust and allows a direct estimation of fiber orientation distortion in each shell element based on its curvatures. Comparative solutions with a commercial tool demonstrate the excellent accuracy of the proposed fiber-draping analysis method in predicting fiber distortions on the fan blade surfaces. Numerical simulation results highlight the significant impact of fiber-draped orientations on laminated composite fan blade structure.
This study presents an effective method for simulating laminated composite fan blade structure with the consideration of fiber-draping analysis. The middle shell finite element model with nodal thicknesses is used for the lamination design of the fan blade structure, as shown in Fig 1. To accurately predict fiber-draped orientations resulting from shell curvatures, a numerical kinematic method is proposed for fiber-draping analysis. The global, reference, and the draping coordinate systems are defined for this process, as illustrated in Fig 2. Unlike other existing methods [3,4], this approach is robust and allows a direct estimation of fiber orientation distortion in each shell element based on its curvatures. Comparative solutions with a commercial tool demonstrate the excellent accuracy of the proposed fiber-draping analysis method in predicting fiber distortions on the fan blade surfaces. Numerical simulation results highlight the significant impact of fiber-draped orientations on laminated composite fan blade structure.