These slides were presented at the NAFEMS World Congress 2025, held in Salzburg, Austria from May 19–22, 2025.

Abstract

Material innovation is critical across industries, particularly for the design of lightweight and sustainable products. Accurately capturing the complex behavior of composites remains a significant challenge in engineering design and analysis. This challenge highlights the importance of multiscale modeling techniques, which provide a comprehensive understanding of material response across various length scales. Efficient and user-friendly CAE tools are essential for analysts to develop high-fidelity simulation models. This work outlines a framework that enables multiscale modeling of composites within a multidisciplinary environment. The process begins at the microscale, where an RVE (Representative Volume Element) Generator is used for virtual material characterization. Various types of microstructures, including Unidirectional, Woven, Honeycomb, and Short Fiber Reinforced, can be generated and analyzed using any structural FEA solver. This analysis yields homogenized composite properties, which are then used to create solver material cards for subsequent macroscale analysis. In the second step, the microscale data are utilized to create a laminated model of a solid composite component. After the meshing process, the efficient build-up and inspection of the composite lamination are carried out to. Once the laminated model is complete, it can be adapted for various analyses, with boundary conditions and all required analysis parameters set for multiple load cases. Finally, the composite model is prepared, and the FEA simulations are submitted and monitored. Post-processing results from laminated component analyses can be complex, as tensor results and material history variables exist through the thickness. To address this, a new toolset for post-processing composite results has been introduced. This toolset facilitates a range of actions, from massive results reading and materials handling to identifying critical areas, generating through-the-thickness plots, and recording post-processing actions. In summary, this integrated approach streamlines the entire workflow'”from material characterization to final post-processing. It empowers CAE engineers to efficiently design and analyze advanced composite structures, ultimately meeting the demands for innovation and sustainability in engineering.