Thermo-mechanical process modelling of industrially pultruded parts having UD and CFM layers

Numerical process simulation of an industrially pultruded rectangular hollow profile is presented. The product contains the continuous filament mat (CFM) and the uni-directional(UD) roving layers made of glass/polyester. The distortion and stress evolutions together with the temperature and degree of fields are predicted by the simulation tool developed by the authors. The predicted deformation pattern at the end of the process is found to agree quite well with the one for the real pultruded part in a commercial pultrusion company. A parametric study is also performed based on the total volumetric shrinkage of the resin system during curing. The process induced residual stresses are calculated in the in-plane directions which have the potential to influence the internal stress levels during the service loading condition