Manufacturing and Advanced Simulation of Continuous Tow Shearing (MASCoTS)

使用纤维转向来增强复合材料结构性能已被视为具有减少材料使用和降低制造成本的显著潜力。它还被证明具有气动弹性剪裁的能力。这允许飞行器机翼以减小的扭转弯曲。减少扭曲使机翼在风速范围内更有效。这将对环境排放产生影响，并提高航空航天结构的经济可行性。这也可以扩展到其他领域，如汽车和风能。目前的光纤转向解决方案是自动铺带（ATL）和定制光纤铺放（TFP）。ATL不能以紧密的半径转向，并且转向导致纤维缠结和间隙，从而损害结构性能。TFP是一个缓慢的过程，因此不能足够快地存款材料的任何显着的大小。iCOMAT创造了一种新的铺带工艺，即连续丝束剪切（CTS），它有望与ATL的速度相媲美，但不会产生毛刺和间隙。它也可以放置在狭窄的半径（100毫米）。然而，存在一个问题，即不存在商业软件来简化设计，分析和优化结构使用CTS。该项目的目标是开发原型CTS头设计，以达到可以引入工业应用的水平。与此同时，MSC Software将开发设计，分析和优化工具，使其可供潜在用户使用。他们还将编写一个工具，将最终设计转换回CTS头遵循的光纤路径，完成此过程中的“数字线程”。DaptaBlade将开发多学科软件，使机翼结构模型与流体动力学分析耦合，以执行气动弹性剪裁。该项目还将创建演示结构，用于验证分析和制造软件。这些将在TWI进行结构测试。

The use of fibre steering to enhance composite structural performance has been seen as having significant potential for reducing material use and reduction in manufacturing costs. It also has been shown to have capabilities for aero-elastic tailoring. This allows an aircraft wing to bend with a reduced twist. Reducing twist allows the wing to be more efficient over a range of wind speeds. This will have an impact on environmental emissions and improve the economic viability in aerospace structures. This could also be extended into other sectors like automotive and wind energy.Current solutions for fibre steering are automatic tape laying (ATL) and tailored fibre placement (TFP) These have both of limitations. ATL cannot steer with a tight radius and steering causes fibre wrinkling and gaps, compromising the structural performance. TFP is a slow process so cannot deposit material fast enough for anything of a significant size. Also the stitching used compromises the structural performance.iCOMAT have created a new tape laying process, continuous tow shearing (CTS) which promises to rival the speed of ATL but without the wrinkling and gaps. It also can lay around tight radii (100mm). However there is an issue that commercial software does not exist to simplify design, analysis and optimisation of structures using CTS.The project is aiming to develop the prototype CTS head design to a level where it can be introduced to industrial applications. In parallel to this development MSC Software will develop design, analysis and optimisation tools to make it accessible to prospective users. They will also write a tool translating the final design back into fibre paths for the CTS head to follow, completing the "digital thread" in this process. DaptaBlade will develop multi-disciplinary software which will enable coupling of a wing structural model with fluid dynamics analyse to perform aeroelastic tailoring.The project will also create demonstrator structures which will be used to verify the analysis and manufacturing software. These will be structurally tested at TWI.