Integrated manufacturing of composites

制造良好的复合材料结构变得越来越复杂。为了以一致的、可重复的方式制造结构，必须结合基本的理论知识和关于可能影响制造该结构所需过程的参数的实践知识。在目前最先进的技术中，从基本设计到最终制造，制造零件的许多方面都有方法和现有模型。本研究的目的是寻找一种优化和改进复合材料结构的设计、分析和制造的方法，以制造出更好、更一致的零件。现有的模型和软件工具往往是“独立的”工具，只能帮助设计的某些方面。以液态复合成型（LCM）注射制造工艺为例。工业界希望使用这些工艺制造出好的复合材料部件，但是必须使用单独的软件工具进行设计、应力分析、纤维放置和树脂流动预测。更精细的建模工具应该能够以优化的方式组合或集成从这些独立工具获得的信息。此外，通常还需要考虑应用特定的其他方面（例如环境影响、疲劳、振动和阻尼）。本研究开发的建模和优化工具将通过大量的复合材料结构测试得到验证。由此产生的建模工具将有助于航空航天、汽车、体育用品和其他需要广泛使用先进复合材料的行业。综上所述，本研究的目的是整合复合材料的设计方法，以产生有用的设计工具。

Manufacturing of good composite material structures is becoming increasingly complex.  In order to fabricate structures in a consistent, repeatable manner, there must be a combination of basic theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge about the parameters that might affect the processes needed to manufacture that structure.  In the current state-of-the-art, there are methods and existing models that govern many aspects of making a part, from basic design to final manufacturing.  The purpose of this research is to find a way to optimize and improve the design, analysis and manufacturing of composite material structures in order make better and more consistent parts.  The models and software tools that exist tend to be "stand-alone" tools that can help with only certain aspects of design.  Take the Liquid Composite Molding (LCM) injection manufacturing processes an example.  Industry would like to make good composite parts using these processes, but one has to deal with separate software tools for design, stress analysis, fiber placement and resin flow prediction.  A more refined modeling tool should be able to combine or integrate the information gained from these separate tools in an optimized way.  In addition, there are often other aspects specific to an application, which may need to be considered (environmental effects, fatigue, vibration and damping as examples). Modeling and optimization tools developed in this research would be verified by extensive testing of composite structures.  The resulting modeling tools will help those in the aerospace, automotive, sporting goods and other industries where extensive use of advanced composite materials is desired. In summary, the purpose of this research is to integrate design methods for composite materials in order to produce useful design tools.