Mieke Lossie

Design principles in filament winding

Abstract Owing to their high specific stiffness and strnegth, combined with an excellent corrosion resistance, composites are attractive materials for use in structural applications. In particular, their anisotropy offers huge potential for optimally tailoring a design to meet performance requirements. Manufacturing processes such as filament winding often limit the design freedom, thereby complicating design optimization. This paper deals with the filament winding design problem and describes some compromises to be made in order to gain optimum benefit from the use of composites despite the limitations of the winding process.

Optimization of filament-wound parts based on non-geodesic winding

Abstract When designing filament-wound parts, use of an integrated strategy is recommended to take advantage of the benefits of composites despite limitations of the filament winding process. This paper describes a computer-integrated methodology for the design of filament-wound parts which includes: (1) initial part design using a computer-aided design system; (2) preliminary finite element analysis to determine ideal fibre orientations; (3) fibre path generation, including non-geodesics, to obtain feasible fibre paths; (4) choice of final lay-up sequence; and (5) composite finite element analysis to adapt the final lay-up until strength and stiffness requirements are met. The proposed methodology, embodied in the computer code CAWAR, is illustrated by application to a conical filament-wound part.

Design Philosophy in Filament Winding

Abstract Within the scope of the Composite Materials Group of the K.U. Leuven, the Department of Mechanical Engineering directs its research towards design and manufacturing of filament wound structures. This paper dealt with an adequate design philosophy which has been applied in industrial winding projects. The design philosophy is situated and in a wider environmental context by referring to literature, projects developed at the K.U. Leuven, and by giving comments based on internal research and experience.