Concordia Centre for Composites: thermoplastic composite tubes for helicopter

Concordia University together with a variety of other universities and academic institutions from around the world is participating in the Academic Partner Program (APP) launched by AnalySwift, a provider of efficient high-fidelity modeling software for composites.

The research involves the Concordia Centre for Composites (CONCOM), a research group in the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science at Concordia University. The goal of the mission is researching composite tubes, particularly those used in helicopter landing gear. Researchers are using two AnalySwift products: the VABS and SwiftComp simulation software.

The Academic Partner Program (APP)

The program offers free licenses to the participating universities of engineering software programs mentioned above. In this way students, researchers, and teachers can exploit the tools in their academic research.

Students also have the opportunity to draw attention to their research by periodically publishing documents, theses and articles involving the codes. A solid community of users helps answer questions through the cdmHUB (Composite Design & Manufacturing HUB) online platform.

About CONCOM – Concordia Centre for Composites

CONCOM has more than 50 members who come from different countries and continents. Also many visiting researchers come to the research centre for study, co-operation, and training. The group lead by Professor Suong Van Hoa is trying to become an excellence in research, training and industrial development in the composite sector,  with particular attention to low-cost, high-volume polymer matrix composite structures. It also carries out research on the fundamental work in metal and ceramic matrix composites.

Saeid Khadem Moshir, a Ph.D. student at Concordia Centre for Composites, told that the group is working on the analysis of composite tubes, including using the variational asymptotic method (VAM). They are analyzing the bending of thermoplastic composite tubes for the application of landing gear in helicopters.

According to this student, the utilization of a fast and accurate method for analysis of composite tubes made of a large number of layers is necessary. The SwiftComp software is used as an accurate and quick tool for this stress analysis of composite tubes. These tubes are manufactured by an automatic fiber placement machine. Real-life applications for the present research include analyzing stress and bending behavior of cross tubes for landing gear of helicopters.

The software used

AnalySwift’s SwiftComp and VABS allow to model structures and composites materials efficiently and accurately at the same time. 

  • SwiftComp is a general-purpose multiscale modeling code that enables users to perform efficient and accurate modeling of composites. And it makes it possible for different structures including 1D (beams), 2D (plates/shells), woven, and 3D structures
  • The VABS program is a general cross-sectional analysis tool for computing beam properties and recovering 3D stresses and strains of slender composite structures. It is used for composite helicopter and wind turbine rotor blades, slender composite structures such as propellers, landing gear, and high-aspect ratio wings.

If you want to stay updated on news, technologies and activities, subscribe to Compositi Newsletter

Source: CONCOM and  ACMA


Leggi anche

Plataine, fornitore di soluzioni di AI e Industrial IIoT per l’ottimizzazione della produzione, ha intrapreso una collaborazione con l’Advanced Technologies Lab for Aerospace Systems (ATLAS), parte del National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) della Wichita State University, per esplorare le possibilità di evoluzione digitale dei processi di produzione di compositi avanzati, grazie all’analisi dei dati….

Leggi tutto…

Un consorzio composto dalle PMI ÉireComposites e Plasma Bound e dall’Università tecnologica di Dublino ha ottenuto un finanziamento governativo di 2,5 milioni di euro per il progetto Ad Astra, che ha l’obiettivo di promuovere l’adozione di materiali compositi leggeri in diverse fasi del processo produttivo dell’industria aerospaziale. Il lavoro sarà sostenuto nell’ambito del DTIF (DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES INNOVATION FUND) Call 5, guidato dal governo irlandese e da Enterprise Ireland….

Leggi tutto…

AIMPLAS e TNO hanno concluso il progetto ELIOT, che prevede una revisione completa delle tecnologie di riciclaggio per compositi e biocompositi. Durante i test sono stati valutati dodici metodi applicati a sei diversi materiali. La solvolisi e la pirolisi sono risultate le alternative più promettenti per la produzione su larga scala. La pirolisi, tuttavia, ha dimostrato di avere costi economici ed ambientali maggiori rispetto alla solvolisi, dal momento che genera il 17% in più di anidride carbonica e sviluppa il doppio del calore….

Leggi tutto…

In occasione dell’evento JEC Forum ITALY – organizzato da JEC Group in collaborazione con Assocompositi – del prossimo 6-7 giugno 2023 a Bologna, Leonardo Spa terrà un intervento all’interno della sessione “Nuovi modelli per l’innovazione e nuove tecnologie”. Disponibile ora l’abstract dello speech!…

Leggi tutto…

Nell’ottica di rendere più sostenibile l’industria aerospaziale, i compositi a sandwich possono sostituire i termoindurenti tradizionali nella creazione di parti strutturali degli aerei, senza rinunciare alla resistenza in ambienti estremi o in situazioni di carico imprevisto. EconCore sta lavorando con Airbus, Fraunhofer e il Politecnico della Danimarca (DTU) alla realizzazione di un timone sostenibile per un aeromobile in compositi a nido d’ape….

Leggi tutto…