Work with Composites to understand various workflows available in HyperX. Start by Sizing with Effective Laminates. Next, generate a Laminate Family and re-Size. Finally, use Set Variables to iterate the Laminate Family Design.
Review Assigned Composite Failure Modes
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In the Property Tree, right-click > "Edit" "Panel Analysis Property 1" to review the assigned Analysis Property.
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Right-click > "Edit" "Strength, Composite (Ply) 5" to review the Composite Strength Failure Mode.
Review Results
By Sizing with Effective Laminates, we attained an optimal design fairly quickly. However, manufacturing a structure to these specs won't be as easy. These results provide a good starting point for a Laminate Family that we can use to find a more manufacturable design without sacrificing much in terms of weight.
Generate Laminate Family from Sizing Results
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With the upper skin selected, click on the "Laminate Family" button on the Composite tab of the Ribbon. Select "Generate Laminate Family" > "From sizing results" in the resulting context menus.
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Click "Generate main sequence" to generate the Main Stacking Sequence (MSS).
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Provide a "Family Name Prefix".
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Click "Generate Laminate Family" to generate the Candidate Laminates based on the MSS.
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Save the selected Laminate Family.
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Click "Close".
Apply Laminate Family to Design Property
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Open the "Laminate - Tape - Detailed Sizing" Design Property. Right-click on the "Material" cell.
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Choose "Select Laminate Family(s)" from the context menu.
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Select the Laminate Family that you generated. You should recognize it by the "Family Name Prefix" set in the last step.
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Click "Ok" to confirm your selection and close the form.
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Click "Apply" to save the changes to the Design Property.
Review Results
Open the Legend to review results. The Legend Plot options should be the same as they were in Part 1 so we can review the differences in the results to compare Sizing with Effective Laminates vs Laminate Families.
With a Laminate Family, we're seeing higher ply counts near the base of the wing with a more consistent pattern of ply drops as you look toward the lower ply counts at the tip of the wing. This indicates a more easily manufactured design while maintaining a comparable weight.
Examine Laminate Design Result
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Select a Zone of interest, right-click.
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Choose "Design Result" from the context menu.
In the Design Result form, double click on the "Material" selection to open the Laminate Family window to review which Candidate Laminate was chosen for this Zone.
Tip
Scroll to the bottom of the Laminate Family window to review the meta data corresponding to the selected Laminate.
Generate Laminate Family with Set Variables
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Open the "Laminate - Tape - Detailed Sizing" Design Property. Click the "Set Variables" button.
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Move the slider all the way to "More Candidates". This will generate more Candidate Laminates in the new Laminate Family. That means more granular Sizing inputs for more precise results, but the generation and Sizing processes will take more time.
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Click the "Set Variables" button at the bottom of the form to generate the new Laminate Family.
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Click "Apply" to save the changes to the Design Property.
Re-Size and Review Results
We see a trend in ply counts similar to what we saw in Part 2 but with generally lower ply counts across the wing. By using Set Variables with Laminate Family Sizing, we achieved a lower weight design without sacrificing manufacturability.