Automated fiber placement: The impact of manufacturing constraints on achieving structural property targets for CFRP-stiffeners

Abstract

The use of automated fiber placement (AFP) to manufacture integrated CFRP stiffening structures leads to a conflict between structural requirements and process limitations in early design stages. In order to avoid costly design iterations, the presented analytical approach enables the computation of tool geometries that are at the limit of theoretical manufacturability. The model is able to determine the profile of manufacturable omega stiffeners with high accuracy. It is shown that the maximum manufacturable profile parameters depend non-linearly on the properties of the AFP system and the profile itself. This allows prioritization of the profile parameters for the efficient definition of omega stiffeners that should meet distinct structural property targets. The results show that current, non-optimized AFP systems already have the potential to manufacture omega stiffeners with sufficiently high stiffness values when taking into account current aerospace applications.