Paper number 1048

VALIDATION OF CODA SOFTWARE FOR COMPOSITES SYNTHESIS AND PRELIMINARY DESIGN

Graham D Sims and William R Broughton

Composites Design Data and Methods,
Centre for Materials Measurement and Technology,
National Physical Laboratory, Teddington TW11 0LW UK.

Summary

Successful composites applications are an optimisation of the geometry and the material properties that often only come together during the final forming process. Hence, it is important that the effect of altering each can easily be assessed by both material suppliers, engineering designers and end users. This can be undertaken using preliminary design procedures that can be used either to reduce the "make and test" process in a small or medium sized company or as a precursor to more detailed analysis such as FEA in a company that can afford more expensive (both software and staff) analysis facilities. In both cases, the aim of preliminary electronic "back of the envelope calculations" is to quickly identify combinations of materials and geometries that meet the end requirements with some confidence. For users to have confidence in the predictions, experimental validation is necessary.

Keywords

material synthesis, preliminary design, material formulation, validation, software.