Importing laminates (Simcenter Samcef)

Simcenter 3D and Simcenter Samcef handle laminate data and draping sequences differently. In Simcenter Samcef, for instance, you cannot stack on a same element two times the same ply ID.

When importing laminates and draping data from Simcenter Samcef, the importer applies several rules to import Simcenter Samcef layups into Simcenter 3D layups.

Importing Simcenter Samcef composite data

The following table describes the Simcenter Samcef composite commands that can be imported into Simcenter 3D.

Samcef command	Supported parameters
.PLI	ANGLE, MAT, T
.LAM	PLI, ANGLE
.ETA	LAM, ANGLE, DIR

For more information, see the .PLI, .LAM, and .ETA Samcef commands.

Importing workflow rules

To import Simcenter Samcef layups into Simcenter 3D layups, the following rules are applied.

Import workflow rule 1: the Simcenter Samcef shift angle of the .ETA draping sequence

In Simcenter Samcef, when you drape a layup on a mesh, you can add a shift angle that turns the whole layup before draping it, as shown in the following example:

.PLI PLI 1 ANGLE 0 T 2 MAT 1.LAM LAM 1 PLI 1.ETA DRAPE 0 I 1 LAM 1 ANGLE 90 DIR 1 2

Note:

• For 2D layered meshes, the import adds this draping shift angle to the Element Associated Data as shown in Example 1: simple layup on 2D shells below.

• For 3D layered meshes, the import creates a Spatial Field material orientation as shown in Example 2: simple layup on 3D volumes below.For more details on the use of Spatial Field for material orientation, see Material orientation.

Import workflow rule 2: grouping all the draping sequences in one single layup

The import process uses the same layup for all the different stacking sequences that might be defined for a given mesh. If necessary, the ply angles can be modified.

As a corollary, if the import changes the angle of a ply, the ply ID is automatically renumbered, because in Simcenter 3D, a ply ID always refers to a unique set of properties.

Example 3: grouping several layups stacked on a same mesh collector illustrates this behavior.

Import workflow rule 3: layups compaction

The compaction method groups layups stacked on different elements according to a Tolerance Angle.

This Tolerance Angle is defined in the Options tab of the Samcef File Import dialog box.

For instance, if the stacking sequences defined on two elements are the same according to this Tolerance Angle, the import groups these elements into the same mesh collector with a unique layup. If not, both elements go into two different mesh collectors with two different layups.

Example 4: first example of layup compaction and Example 5: a second example of layup compaction illustrate this behavior.

Examples

The following examples illustrate how the combination of these rules create the Simcenter 3D layups.

Example 1: simple layup on 2D shells

The Simcenter Samcef input file contains the following simple model:

.NOE I 1 X 0  Y 0  Z 0 I 2 X 20 Y 0  Z 0 I 3 X 20 Y 10 Z 0 I 4 X 0  Y 10 Z 0.MAI I 1 AT 1 0 N 1 2 3 4.HYP ....MAT I 1 ....PLI PLI 1 ANGLE 0 T 2 MAT 1.LAM LAM 1 PLI 1.ETA DRAPE 0 I 1 LAM 1 ANGLE 90 DIR 1 2

One layup is turned 90° when draped on the element.

The import creates the following ply layup:

The import adds the Simcenter Samcef draping shift angle of 90° to the Element Associated Data material orientation.

Example 2: simple layup on 3D volumes

The Simcenter Samcef input file contains the following draping data:

.NOE I 1 X 0  Y 0  Z 0 I 2 X 20 Y 0  Z 0 I 3 X 20 Y 10 Z 0 I 4 X 0  Y 10 Z 0 I 5 X 0  Y 0  Z 40 I 6 X 20 Y 0  Z 40 I 7 X 20 Y 10 Z 40 I 8 X 0  Y 10 Z 40.MAI I 1 AT 1 0 N 1 2 3 4 0 5 6 7 8.HYP ....MAT I 1 ....PLI.PLI PLI 1 ANGLE 0 T 2 MAT 1.LAM LAM 1 PLI 1.ETA DRAPE 0 I 1 LAM 1 ANGLE 90 DIR 1 2

The import creates the following ply layup:

The import adds the Simcenter Samcef draping shift angle to the material orientation Spatial Field of the Mesh Associated Data:

This Spatial Field looks like the following:

Note:

• The Spatial Field directions refer to the absolute Cartesian coordinate system.

• The Simcenter Samcef export ply uses the first direction. The export automatically computes the second direction as perpendicular to the first and does not use the one set by default in the Spatial Field.

Example 3: grouping several layups stacked on a same mesh collector

The Simcenter Samcef input file has the same content as the one in the Example 2, except for the following draping data:

.PLI PLI 1 ANGLE 0 T 2 MAT 1 PLI 2 ANGLE 30 T 4 MAT 1.LAM LAM 1 PLI 1 LAM 2 PLI 2.ETA DRAPE 0 I 1 LAM 1 ANGLE 0 DIR 1 2 DRAPE 0 I 1 LAM 2 ANGLE 45 DIR 1 2

In this example, two laminates are draped on the same element. The final draping action shows that:

• Ply 1 is draped with a total 30° angle against the DIR 1 2 direction.

• Ply 2 is draped with a total 75° angle (30° + 45° - 0° ) against the same DIR 1 2 direction.

The import creates the following ply layup:

Notice the following:

• The grouping action took the final draping angles into account.

• Ply 2 has a new ID: 3.This renumbering can occur when ply 2 is draped over another mesh for which the import does not change the angle. In this case, there would be two layups on two mesh collectors. Both layups would have the same ply ID, but with different properties. However, Simcenter 3D does not allow this situation because a ply ID always refers to a unique set of properties.

Note:

Ply renumbering can also occur when the imported draping data contains the following special Simcenter Samcef draping sequence:

.PLI PLI 1 ANGLE 0 T 2 MAT 1.LAM LAM 1 PLI 1 LAM 2 PLI 1.ETA DRAPE 0 I 1 LAM 1 ANGLE 0 DIR 1 2 DRAPE 0 I 1 LAM 2 ANGLE 45 DIR 1 2

In this case, two different stacked laminates both refer to the same ply properties.

The import creates the following ply layup:

Notice the following:

• The grouping action took the final draping angles into account.

• A new ply 2 has been created.

Note:

This workflow may appear when you import, then export again, a Samcef composite model in which several laminates are stacked on a list of elements, or when one laminate is stacked on elements that will be splitted on different mesh collectors because of other different properties.

When you export again this model, the stacking sequence in the exported file will differ from the one in the original file you imported.

In this case, it would be risky to compare the results (for instance the stress tensor) at the ply level: a ply when the same ID can have different properties (and stacking position) in the original file than in the exported file.

But the global results at the element level (efforts, deformation, ..) are preserved.

Example 4: first example of layup compaction

The Simcenter Samcef input file contains the following draping data:

.NOE I 1 X 0  Y 0  Z 0 I 2 X 20 Y 0  Z 0 I 3 X 20 Y 10 Z 0 I 4 X 0  Y 10 Z 0 I 5 X 0  Y 15 Z 0 I 6 X 20 Y 15 Z 0.MAI I 1 AT 1 0 N 1 2 3 4 I 2 AT 1 0 N 4 3 6 5.HYP ....MAT I 1 ....PLI PLI 1 ANGLE 0 T 2 MAT 1 PLI 2 ANGLE 30 T 4 MAT 1.LAM LAM 1 PLI 1 LAM 2 PLI 2.ETA DRAPE 0 I 1 LAM 1 ANGLE 0 DIR 1 2 DRAPE 0 I 1 LAM 2 ANGLE 40 DIR 1 2 DRAPE 0 I 2 LAM 1 ANGLE 5 DIR 4 3 DRAPE 0 I 2 LAM 2 ANGLE 48 DIR 4 3

The final ply angles after draping are shown in the following table.

Element ID	Ply final angle
Element 1	Ply 1: 0°Ply 2: 70°
Element 2	Ply 1: 5°Ply 2: 78°

Element 1 has the following layup with no shift angle in the Element Associated Data material orientation.

Element ID	Ply final angle
Element 1	Ply 1: 0° + 0°(EAD) = 0°(new) Ply 3: 70° + 0°(EAD) = 70°

With element 2, after applying Rule 2, it is possible to nearly reuse the same layup with a correction shift angle of 5° in the Element Associated Data material orientation. In this case, the final draping angles are shown in the following table.

Element ID	Ply final angle
Element 2	Ply 1: 0° + 5°(EAD) = 5°(new) Ply 3: 70° + 5°(EAD) =75°

During the import, Tolerance Angle was set to 5°. The final 78° angle of ply 2 on element 2 appears to be in that tolerance range because 78° - 75° = 3° ≤ 5°. The import applies the compaction and the final draping angles.

Element ID	Ply final angle
Element 1	Ply 1: 0°(new) Ply 3: 70°
Element 2	Ply 1: 5°(new) Ply 3: 75°

Example 5: a second example of layup compaction

If Composite Tolerance Angle is set to 1°, the compaction can no longer occur. In this case:

• Element 1 is stored in a mesh collector with the layup with no shift angle in the Element Associated Data material orientation:

Element ID	Ply final angle
Element 1	Ply 1: 0° + 0°(EAD) = 0°(new) Ply 3: 70° + 0°(EAD) = 70°

• Element 2 is stored in another mesh collector with the layup and with a 5° shift angle in the Element Associated Data material orientation.:

Element ID	Ply final angle
Element 2	Ply 1: 0° + 5°(EAD) = 5°(new) Ply 4: 73° + 5°(EAD) = 78°

Look up more details

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Importing laminates (Simcenter Samcef), Simcenter 3D 2021.1 Series

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