IGF::OT::IGF NRA - DEVELOPMENT OF PHYSICS-BASED PROCESS MODELS TO SIMULATE THE FORMATION OF DEFECTS IN THE…

Public award description

IGF::OT::IGF NRA - DEVELOPMENT OF PHYSICS-BASED PROCESS MODELS TO SIMULATE THE FORMATION OF DEFECTS IN THE AUTOMATED FIBER PLACEMENT PROCESS AND THE CURE PROCESS OF COMPLEX COMPOSITE STRUCTURE. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DEVELOP AN AUTOMATED FIBER PLACEMENT (AFP) DEFECTS PHYSICS-BASED PROCESS MODEL (AFPD-PM) CAPABLE OF PREDICTING TAPE-BUCKLING DEFECTS OCCURRING DURING AFP PROCESS FABRICATION OF COMPLEX-CURVATURE STRUCTURE AND A CURE DEFECTS PHYSICS-BASED PROCESS MODEL (CD-PM)CAPABLE OF PREDICTING CURE PROCESS POROSITY AND FIBER-WAVINESS DURING CURE OF COMPLEX STRUCTURE. AFPD-PM YEAR 1 MILESTONE: THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PLAN, CONDUCT AND REPORT ON THE RESULTS OF AFP PROCESS AND MATERIALS CHARACTERIZATION EXPERIMENTS NECESSARY TO IDENTIFY THE MATERIALS AND PROCESSING STATE VARIABLES INFLUENCING TAPE BUCKLING DEFECTS. THE RESULTS OF THESE EXPERIMENTS SHALL BE UTILIZED BY THE CONTRACTOR TO RECOMMEND THE AFPD-PM GOVERNING EQUATIONS COMPRISING THE SIMULATION SOFTWARE TO BE DEVELOPED. BASED ON THESE KEY LEARNINGS IN THE FIRST YEAR, THE CONTRACTOR SHALL ALSO IDENTIFY FURTHER CHARACTERIZATION STUDIES NECESSARY TO DEVELOP THE CONSTITUTIVE EQUATIONS DESCRIBING THE MATERIAL AND PROCESS BEHAVIORS OBSERVED. CD-PM YEAR 1 MILESTONE: THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PLAN, CONDUCT AND REPORT ON THE RESULTS OF CURE PROCESS AND MATERIALS CHARACTERIZATION EXPERIMENTS NECESSARY TO IDENTIFY THE MATERIALS AND PROCESSING STATE VARIABLES INFLUENCING CURE DEFECTS, INCLUDING POROSITY AND FIBER-WAVINESS. THE RESULTS OF THESE EXPERIMENTS SHALL BE UTILIZED BY THE CONTRACTOR TO RECOMMEND THE CD-PM GOVERNING EQUATIONS COMPRISING THE SIMULATION SOFTWARE TO BE DEVELOPED. BASED ON THESE KEY LEARNINGS IN THE FIRST YEAR, THE CONTRACTOR SHALL ALSO IDENTIFY FURTHER CHARACTERIZATION STUDIES NECESSARY TO DEVELOP THE CONSTITUTIVE EQUATIONS DESCRIBING THE MATERIAL AND PROCESS BEHAVIORS OBSERVED. AFPD-PM YEAR 2 MILESTONE: THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DEVELOP A PRELIMINARY PHYSICS-BASED PROCESS MODEL CAPABLE OF PREDICTION OF WRINKLES, UNTACKING (PUCKERING), AND ASSOCIATED DEFECTS AS A FUNCTION OF TURNING RADIUS FOR DIFFERENT AFP PROCESSING PARAMETERS ON SIMPLE- CURVED PARTS. CD-PM YEAR 2 MILESTONE: THE CONTRACTOR SHALL FOCUS YEAR 2 EFFORTS ON MATERIALS AND PROCESS CONSTITUTIVE EQUATIONS DEVELOPMENT TO SOLVE THE RECOMMENDED CD-PM GOVERNING EQUATIONS FOR PREDICTION OF FIBER WAVINESS DEFECTS. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DEVELOP A PRELIMINARY CD-PM CAPABLE OF QUALITATIVE PREDICTION OF BOTH FIBER WAVINESS AND POROSITY DEFECTS IN AUTOCLAVE CURED COMPOSITE STRUCTURE OF THE COMPLEXITY IDENTIFIED BY NASA. THE QUALITATIVE PREDICTIVE CAPABILITIES OF THE PRELIMINARY CD-PM SHALL INCLUDE FIBER-WAVINESS AND POROSITY TYPE, SIZE, EXTENT, AND LOCATION. AFPD-PM YEAR 3 MILESTONE OPTION: THE CONTRACTOR SHALL FURTHER DEVELOP AND CALIBRATE THE YEAR 2-PRELIMINARY AFPD-PM TO QUANTITATIVELY PREDICT THE AFP PROCESSING PARAMETERS WHICH DECREASE THE OCCURRENCE OF TAPE BUCKLING (WRINKLES, PUCKERING, AND TOW LIFT) DEFECTS FOR COMPLEX-CURVATURE GEOMETRY COMPOSITE STRUCTURE FABRICATED BY AFP. DURING THE YEAR 3 THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DEMONSTRATE THE ABILITY OF THE AFPD-PM TO QUANTITATIVELY PREDICT THE AFP PROCESSING PARAMETERS THROUGH A VALIDATION EFFORT FROM WHICH PREDICTED RESULTS CAN BE COMPARED TO EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS FROM THE FABRICATION OF A TYPICAL AEROSPACE COMPLEX- CURVATURE GEOMETRY STRUCTURE. CD-PM YEAR 3 MILESTONE OPTION: THE CONTRACTOR SHALL FURTHER DEVELOP AND CALIBRATE THE CD-PM TO PROVIDE QUANTITATIVE PREDICTION OF THE CURE PROCESS PARAMETERS WHICH REDUCE THE OCCURRENCE OF POROSITY AND FIBER-WAVINESS DEFECTS IN COMPLEX COMPOSITE STRUCTURE. BY THE END OF THE YEAR-3 POP, THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DEMONSTRATE THE QUANTITATIVE PREDICTIVE CAPABILITIES OF THE CD-PM. AFPD-PM YEAR 4 MILESTONE OPTION: BASED ON THE RESULTS OF THE YEAR 3 AFPD-PM VALIDATION EFFORT, THE DEVELOPED MODEL SHALL BE FULLY IMPLEMENTED IN THE COTS ENVIRONMENT. THE UTILITY AND ROBUSTNESS OF THE DEVELOPED AFPD-PM SHALL BE FURTHER DEMONSTRATED. CD-PM YEAR 4 MILESTO