TY - GEN
T1 - High-Fidelity Digital Twin Autoclave Tool for Quality Informed Composite Fabrication
AU - Lua, Jim
AU - Shrestha, Kalyan
AU - Karuppiah, Anand
AU - Yan, Jinhui
AU - Guay, Ian
AU - Phan, Nam D.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2024 by the Vertical Flight Society. All rights reserved.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - The Autoclave processing is commonly used in manufacturing high-performance fibre-reinforced thermoset composite components in the aerospace industry. Variations in the cure cycle, sometimes even apparently minor deviations from the prescribed cure cycle, can harm the laminate properties. Given the costly and time-consuming autoclave manufacturing process, there is a strong need to cure the maximum number of parts in the shortest possible time without compromising quality. In order to achieve high-rate automated manufacturing with the optimized autoclave process, it is important to construct a digital twin modelling approach to mirror the physical composite curing process in the virtual domain based on the integration of high-fidelity multi-physics models. The resulting digital twin includes a thermal CFD model, a thermo-chemo-mechanical module, and an efficient and accurate block coupling between these two modules. The customized Abaqus driven by local and spatial variation of the turbulence-induced heat transfer coefficient (HTC) imposed through one-way coupling determines the thermo-mechanical response in composite parts. Using the developed digital twin tool (SMARTCLAVE), HTC's spatial and temporal variation can be generated digitally without invoking an expensive and time-consuming experimental approach. The predicted local boundary conditions are used in SMARTCLAVE to determine the cure kinetics, temperature distribution, and thermal-mechanical response that drives the residual stress and distortion of composite parts after curing. The accuracy of the digital twin for autoclaving is demonstrated first using a benchmark problem followed by the capability demonstration with a single-part L-beam assembly. The benefits of using the digital twin tool are illustrated via the optimal placement of multiple parts in an autoclave to balance the throughput and quality.
AB - The Autoclave processing is commonly used in manufacturing high-performance fibre-reinforced thermoset composite components in the aerospace industry. Variations in the cure cycle, sometimes even apparently minor deviations from the prescribed cure cycle, can harm the laminate properties. Given the costly and time-consuming autoclave manufacturing process, there is a strong need to cure the maximum number of parts in the shortest possible time without compromising quality. In order to achieve high-rate automated manufacturing with the optimized autoclave process, it is important to construct a digital twin modelling approach to mirror the physical composite curing process in the virtual domain based on the integration of high-fidelity multi-physics models. The resulting digital twin includes a thermal CFD model, a thermo-chemo-mechanical module, and an efficient and accurate block coupling between these two modules. The customized Abaqus driven by local and spatial variation of the turbulence-induced heat transfer coefficient (HTC) imposed through one-way coupling determines the thermo-mechanical response in composite parts. Using the developed digital twin tool (SMARTCLAVE), HTC's spatial and temporal variation can be generated digitally without invoking an expensive and time-consuming experimental approach. The predicted local boundary conditions are used in SMARTCLAVE to determine the cure kinetics, temperature distribution, and thermal-mechanical response that drives the residual stress and distortion of composite parts after curing. The accuracy of the digital twin for autoclaving is demonstrated first using a benchmark problem followed by the capability demonstration with a single-part L-beam assembly. The benefits of using the digital twin tool are illustrated via the optimal placement of multiple parts in an autoclave to balance the throughput and quality.
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85196737951
T3 - Vertical Flight Society 80th Annual Forum and Technology Display
BT - Vertical Flight Society 80th Annual Forum and Technology Display
PB - Vertical Flight Society
T2 - 80th Annual Vertical Flight Society Forum and Technology Display, FORUM 2024
Y2 - 7 May 2024 through 9 May 2024
ER -