Potentials and Limitation of FE-based Simulation Methods for Fibre Composite Structures

Current industrial demands for fibre composite primary structures in the area of aeronautics require innovative, experimentally validated simulation methods and tools, to support a cost and weight efficient design and to reduce their time-to-market. Reliable application of numerical analysis in upfront design challenges not only verification (“solve the equation right”) aspects but also the validation of the numerical methods (“solve the right equations”) with reliable experimental investigations. Relevant facets with the focus on validation of numerical methods in the area of buckling and postbuckling of stiffened CFRP panel and impact simulation on sandwich structures will be detailed. Potentials and limitations of the simulation methods will be clearly stressed to allow a dependable assessment of its application in upfront simulations in an early design phase