PLM Solutions for Composites

From Black Metal to Optimal Use of Composites

Composites materials raise very particular challenges. For industrials to fully benefit from their weight savings, high resistance and durability intrinsic properties, they must be able to :

• Keep development and build cost under control
• Reduce fabrication cycle time and shorten ramp-up time throughout the process, from initial design to manufacturing preparation and shop floor processing
• Manage the vast amount of data, large number of specifications, and the hundreds of plies generated, from design to manufacturing
• Predict global behavior in order not to over-design the part, undermine the initial lightweight properties, and incur additional cost
• Perform tedious, complex ply design while ensuring manufacturability by taking manufacturing constraints into account and generating the necessary output
• Communicate efficiently, promote concurrent engineering, and manage numerous interactions between composites engineering and manufacturing teams or cross-functional disciplines to prevent misunderstandings, errors, and delays.
• Account for additional parameters such as crashworthiness, fire safety, environmental regulations

Already in use at the major aircraft and helicopter manufacturers and suppliers, Formula 1 teams, as well as yacht designers and builders, Dassault Systèmes’ complete set of process-oriented solutions to design, simulate, and manufacture composite structures on a single virtual platform helps meet these challenges heads on.

CATIA Composites Design is fundamental to our success and makes working with composites, which requires new software, new machines, a whole new way of working, much easier.

Youyi Wen, Director of Composites Dept.,
Chengdu Aircraft Industrial Group