Tool for Thermomechanical Design of Tailorable Composites and Hybrid Material Systems

One promising solution to affordable space exploration beyond the lower Earth orbit lies in advanced tailorable composites and/or hybrid material systems (TC-HMS), which can equip lightweight space structures with reduced thermal sensitivity while retaining their strengths/stiffnesses. In contrast to conventional unidirectional fiber-reinforced composites (UDFRCs), TC-HMS have:nbsp;Location-dependent stiffness/strength, coupling structural design with material design.nbsp;Stiffness and strength dependent on both location and stacking sequence.nbsp;There are still major technical barriers to exploitingnbsp;the full potential of TC-HMS:nbsp;Most efforts are aimed at simple structures with special-purpose codes mdash; there is a need for theories and codes integrated into commercial codes for the design of real TC-HMS structures.nbsp;Most approaches are based on the classical lamination theory (CLT) and its refinements, which rely on assumptions applicable to UDFRCs but not necessarily TC-HMS mdash; there is a need for more advanced models capable of accurately modeling TC-HMS without ad hoc assumptions.nbsp;We will develop an efficient high-fidelity design tool for advanced TC-HMS, including:nbsp;An integrated design framework with user-friendly GUI plug-ins in MSC.Patran/Nastran and Abaqus, exploiting these toolsrsquo; versatile modeling capabilitiesnbsp;and ready to be integrated into other commercial codes.nbsp;A versatile parameterization method capable of expanding the design space for TC-HMS; considering varying fiber orientations, ply coverages, and microscale material selection simultaneously, and accompanied by general-purpose optimizers capable of producing TC-HMS designs with optimized load paths.nbsp;Mechanics of structure genome (MSG)-based thermomechanical micromechanics and plate/shell models designed to compute the location-dependent stiffness and strength of a TC-HMS; rigorously derived and capable of accurately predicting displacements/strains/stresses due to both loads and temperature changes.