Design for Manufacturing with Advanced Composite Materials

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The goal of this project is to develop design for manufacturing guidelines for advanced composite materials. The principal methods to be used in the development of these guidelines will be cost models, processing knowledge, virtual manufacturing simulations, structural analysis, and close cooperation with industry. These tools will be integrated and applied to case studies for evaluation of current design for manufacturing strategies. The `engine` for the design analysis, capable of differentiating between design details, will be a cost model with part size and part complexity scaling. It is well known that larger and more complex parts are more costly. Previous work has suggested size and complexity scaling laws. In that work, shape complexity was calculated by viewing the fiber structure as an information storage medium. This approach led to a rigorous definition for information content that showed a close correlation with manufacturing time. In this project, this idea will be further developed with the aid of fiber mapping software. This will allow automation of this task and the opportunity to evaluate alternative complexity measures if needed. An important feature of the proposed cost model will be a logical and transparent data structure which allows easy modifications for new developments in process technology. This work will build upon a previously developed model and database (270 cost equations). Specific new features to be developed include the shape complexity modeling and the factory design and simulation. Industrial input will be provided by Northrop Grumman and other composites manufacturing companies. The desired outcome of this project is the development of a design for manufacturing methodology for advanced composites materials. Of specific interest is the development of recommendations and an evaluation of the integration of parts strategy for several large composite structures. This work is intended to focus attention of critical elements of cost reduction strategies for composites. In addition, the work proposed here should lead to several new software tools in the area of part complexity evaluation, cost modeling, factory representation, and cost model structure.