FiberSIM® Stacks Up Well for Creating Tooling Surfaces

FiberSIM® software’s Explicit Surface Offset tool is a very valuable and efficient utility that enables users to create offset surfaces for constant gauge areas and corresponding ramps of a composite part.  The surfaces generated are based on carbon fiber reinforced plastic designs and core layer shapes.  The utility replicates the surface topology of the parent Laminate, thus the surface quality of the Explicit Offset is sufficient for tooling purposes.

Engineers find it easy and effective to use the Explicit Surface Offset tool included in the FiberSIM® Advanced Composite Engineering Environment™ (ACEE) module.

Figure 1. Design created with FiberSIM ACEE, which allows for the use of Explicit Surface Offset

Once the users have set up the Laminates, Zones and generated Layers through the Zone to Layer Analysis tool, running the Explicit Surface Offset utility will allow them to generate the tooling surface. Once the tooling surface has been generated after some filleting of the corners and edges, the result will be a very accurate inner mold line (IML) surface of small data size. Since the utility replicates the surface topology of the parent Laminate, users can generate very accurate flat patterns. The user can feel confident that the flat patterns being exported, cut, and placed on the actual composite part will fit precisely.

The user can decide whether he wants the ramps to be generated by FiberSIM or whether he would like to create them manually. If manual ramp creation is preferred, the user can choose to generate constant gauge boundaries so he can model the ramp areas as desired.

The Plus-One-Offset Boundary Curve utility found under the Transition Boundary tab in the Layer form allows the user to generate the boundary used for the Explicit Surface Offset ramps. If the user is manually creating ramps, this boundary is necessary to ensure accuracy.

Figure 2. Displays the need to use the Plus-One-Offset Boundary for accurate ramp generation

Figure 3. Displays the actual Plus-One Boundary for a given Layer

FiberSIM takes into account the base of the ramp areas and offsets a boundary curve to represent the base of the ramp for manual ramp generation.

Figure 4. Explicit Surface Offset with Ramps (+1 ramps are automatically accounted for)

Figure 5. Explicit Surface Offset without Ramps

FiberSIM capabilities also allow for the flexibility to update any part when design and manufacturing changes are required. When any changes have been made after the tooling surface has been generated, users can apply those changes to the FiberSIM design and regenerate the Explicit Surface Offset. The utility will take into consideration any changes that are made and update the surface accordingly.

If you have any further questions regarding Explicit Surface Offsets, designing with the FiberSIM ACEE, or any of FiberSIM’s capabilities, please do not hesitate to contact the VISTAGY Product Support team:

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