#### 2.1.9.4. Modeling Ply Properties

The following properties are needed for a Modeling Ply definition:

Figure : General Information

- Name: Name of the Modeling Ply.

- Oriented Selection Sets: Defines the offset and material direction.

- Material: Modeling Ply Material (Fabric, Stackup or Sublaminate).

- Ply Angle: The design angle between the reference direction and the ply fiber direction.

- Number of Layers: Number of times the plies are generated.

- Active: Active plies are considered in an analysis, inactive plies are present but not considered.

- Global Ply Nr: Defines the global ply order. Per default a new Modeling Ply is added after the last Modeling Ply of the Modeling Group The order of the Modeling Plies in the Modeling Groups is equal to this value.

##### 2.1.9.4.1. Draping

It is possible to consider the draping effects which occur during the production process in the lay-up definition. The draping approach can be specified in the Draping tab of the Modeling Ply Properties dialog. The following types of draping are available:

- No Draping (default)

- Internal Draping: The draped fiber directions are determined by the internal ACP draping algorithm.

- Tabular Values: Draped fiber directions are interpolated from a look-up table.

The parameters for Internal Draping and Tabular Values are explained below.

Note: Draping for a specific material can also be assigned to an Oriented Selection Set (OSS). In that case, the Reference Direction of the OSS is adjusted. All associated modeling plies use this draped reference direction. This avoids running multiple draping simulations on the same surface. If Internal Draping is applied to a modeling ply associated with a draped OSS then the OSS’s draped Reference Direction is ignored and an independent draping simulation is started for the Modeling Ply.

###### Internal Draping

The following parameters control the Internal Draping:

- Seed Point: Starting point of the draping process.

- Draping Direction: Sets the primary draping direction for the draping scheme. The secondary direction is always orthogonal to the primary.

  - Auto Draping Direction: Uses fiber direction of the production ply.

  - User-Defined Direction: Uses the defined vector.

- Mesh Size: Defines the draping mesh size. If this mesh size is defined as negative, ACP uses the default mesh size.

- Thickness Correction: The thickness of the draped ply is corrected based on the shearing (see Thickness Correction).

Figure : Internal Draping Definition

###### Tabular Values

The tabular value draping options lets you choose the draped fiber directions from vectors in a look-up table:

- Correction Angle 1: Sets the draped fiber direction.

- Correction Angle 2: Sets the draped transverse direction.

Figure : Draping with Tabular Values Definition

##### 2.1.9.4.2. Selection Rules

Like in the definition of an Oriented Selection Set, a Modeling Ply can have one or more Selection Rules. The intersection of all Element Sets and active Selection Rules defines the extension of the Modeling Ply. In addition, the Selection Rule parameters can be redefined in the Modeling Ply definition. This prevents the same Selection Rule from being defined multiple times and allows staggering to be defined with a single Selection Rule. In Select Selection Rules, select the original Selection Rule and activate Template as True and give new parameters.

The template parameters for each selection rule type are given in the table below:

Rule Type | Parameter 1 | Parameter 2
--- | --- | ---
Parallel Selection Rule | Lower Limit | Upper Limit
Tube Selection Rule | Outer Radius | Inner Radius
Cylindrical Selection Rule | Radius | -
Spherical Selection Rule | Radius | -
Cutoff Selection Rule | - | -
CAD Selection Rule | In-plane capture tolerance | -

##### 2.1.9.4.3. Thickness

The thickness of the ply is defined by default by the thickness of the ply material.

Figure : Thickness Definition

For Fabrics the ply thickness can also be defined by a CAD Geometry or Tabular Values. The thickness options are:

- Type: Thickness definition method.

  Figure : Thickness Definition Options

  - Nominal: The thickness defined in Fabrics is used for the thickness definition.

  - From Geometry: The thickness is calculated from a CAD Geometry. In the case of a complex core ply, it can be helpful to work with a CAD Geometry defining the thickness distribution of the core. ACP samples through the CAD Geometry for each element and maps the thickness. The thickness is evaluated in the element normal direction.

    Figure : Core Geometry

    Figure : Resulting Section Cut

  - From Table: The thickness is evaluated from a data field. ACP inter- or extrapolates the thicknesses for each element. One data point contains the global coordinates and the thickness values. The values in the table can be used as absolute or relative thickness. See Look-up Tables for more information on how to define this table.

- Core Geometry: Thickness of the CAD geometry is mapped to the mesh.

- Thickness Field: Thickness is determined by mapping a value field to the mesh.

- Thickness Field Type:

  - Absolute Values: Values in the Look-up Table define the thickness.

  - Relative Scaling Values: Values in the Look-up Table are scaling factors.

- Taper Edges: adds an edge tapering to the selected Edge Set.

  It is common that core plies are tapered along the boundary. The Taper Edges option allows you to define a taper angle and a taper offset for each edge. The figure below shows a 15 degree tapering along the edge on the left. The thickness is 0 at the selected edge and grows with the specified angle. The Taper Edges option is intended for applying a taper angle to a single ply, for example a core material. When applied to multiple Modeling Plies the thickness distributions of all plies are superposed. For more information, see Edge Tapering and Tapering of Multiple Plies.

  Figure : Edge Tapering

  Figure : Taper Edge Example

  By default, ACP analyzes ply tapering at the element centers. Each element is cropped from the ply if the ply thickness at the element center is negative. This binary representation may not be sufficiently accurate in certain cases. If the Use Nodal Thickness is enabled, the ply tapering will be refined, which results in a more accurate model. For more information, see Element- vs. Node-based Thicknesses.

##### 2.1.9.4.4. Modeling Ply Context Menu

The context menu for Modeling Ply has the following options:

Figure : Right-Click Modeling Ply Menu

- Properties: Display the Modeling Ply Properties dialog.

- Update: Updates the selected Modeling Ply.

- Active/Inactive: Activate or deactivate the selected Modeling Ply. Inactive plies are defined in the database but not considered in the analysis.

- Create Ply Before: Create a new ply before the selected one.

- Create Ply After: Create a new ply after the selected one.

- Reorder: Move the selected Modeling Ply (or plies if several are selected) before or after another defined ply.

- Copy: Copy the selected Modeling Ply to the clipboard.

- Paste: Paste a Modeling Ply from the clipboard.

- Paste Before: Paste a Modeling Ply from the clipboard before the selected one.

- Paste After: Paste a Modeling Ply from the clipboard after the selected one.

- Delete: Delete the selected Modeling Ply.

- Export Ply

Release 18.2 - © ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.