Workshop 02.

1 – T-Joint

Introduction to
ANSYS Composite PrepPost
Release 2020 R1

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2. T-Joint

Introduction
• T-joint sections are omnipresent in composite constructions.

• They are used to connect two parts at right angles.

• In this workshop, we model a T-joint in ACP-Pre.

• It demonstrates an assembly modeling approach in ACP and

highlights the strengths of the Oriented Selection Sets.

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Examples of t-joint stringers on the GER-72 America’s Cup sailing boat

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Examples of t-joint stringers on the GER-72 America’s Cup sailing boat

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Lay-up Information
• Base plate sandwich:
• [90, 0 +45 -45, 90, 0 deg] 0.1 mm UD
• 10 mm Honeycomb core
• [0, 90 +45 -45, 0, 90 deg] 0.1 mm UD
• Stringer:
• 5 x ([0, 90 deg] 0.1 mm UD)
• Bondings:
• 4 x ([+45, -45 deg] 0.1 mm UD)
• Cover:
• [+45, -45, 0, 90 deg] 0.1 mm UD

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• In ACP, the plies of the T-Joint are added in 5 modeling groups following the progression
shown here:

Step One Step Two

Base Plate Stringer
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• In ACP the plies of the T-Joint are added in 5 modeling groups following the progression
shown here:

Step Three Step Four

Bonding Left Bonding Right
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• In ACP the plies of the T-Joint are added in 5 modeling groups following the progression
shown here:

Step Five
Base Cover
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1. Start ANSYS Workbench and Open Archive

3
1
2
2. Start ANSYS Workbench and open the archive
T_Joint_FROM_START_<Release>.wbpz
3. Save the Workbench project
4. Edit Engineering Data

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2
1
1. Check Engineering Data. There are two materials (Epoxy Carbon UD 395 GPa PrePreg and
Honeycomb) defined for layer and core. Both materials stem from Composite Materials
library in the Engineering Data Source
2. Return to Project
3. Edit Model 3
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1. Check Mesh and Named Selections. There are seven Named Selections (Plate1,Plate2,
Plate3, Plate4, Joint1, Joint2 and Tapering) defined.
2. Close Mechanical

1
1
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Start ANSYS Composite PrepPost

1
1. Start ANSYS Composite PrepPost

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Create Layer and Core Fabrics

1
2 3
1. Create a fabric for layer and core.
2. Use a thickness of 0.1 mm and Epoxy_Carbon_UD_395GPa_Prepreg as material for
the carbon layer
3. Use a thickness of 10 mm and the honeycomb material for the core
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Create a Section Cut

1
2 2
1. Create a section cut to check right layering in the further steps
2. Define a scale factor of 10 for all layers and 0.1 for the core
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Activate the Direction and Orientation Arrows

1. As you build up the model, select the appropriate direction and visualization arrows.
2. For Orientated Selection Sets, the purple Orientations and the yellow Reference
Directions are of interest.

3. When you reviewing a lay-up, the light green Fiber Directions in relation to the yellow
Reference Directions are important.

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Create a Rosette

1 2
1. Create a Rosette with the origin on the base plate
2. Orient Rosette as shown above. Orientation can be
done by defining a vector or by selecting elements or
nodes (see next slide)

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Defining Directions for the Rosette by Picking Elements

1. Click into the Direction 1 definition area

1 3
2
2. Select one element as source
3. Press CTRL and select another element as target
Similar to this you can define origins and normal directions simply by selecting an element.
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Create an Oriented Selection Set

2
4 2
1
1.
2.
Create an Oriented Selection Set
From the tree Select Plate1, Plate2, Plate3 and Plate4 as
3
3.
Element Sets (Multiple Selection by holding CTRL)
Define Orientation Point and Direction (flipping direction will
change the build direction
4
4. Select Rosette.1
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Define Composite lay-up on the Base Plate

2
2

2 1 1. Create a Modeling Group “Base_Plate”

2. Create one ply based on the Oriented Selection Set created before
and the Epoxy Carbon UD Prepreg material
3
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3. Copy and paste after the layer five times
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Define Composite lay-up on the Base Plate

1
2
3
2 4
1. Modify the angles of the plies created before by using the Excel Link feature
2. Select the “Base_Plate” modeling group, update lay-up and open excel
3. Modify the ply_angle column in the excel spreadsheet
4. Recreate the lay-up by pull the information from the excel spreadsheet
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Define Composite lay-up on the Base Plate

As alternative method the update of the ply angles can be directly realized through the ACP
GUI interface, individually for each ply: double Click on Modeling Ply.1 → specify angle,
Modeling Ply.2 → specify angle, …, Modeling Ply.6 (lay-up of 90°, 0°, 45°, -45°, 90°, 0°)

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Define Composite lay-up on the Base Plate

3
2
1
1. Create a new layer for the core
(Right mouse button on ModelingPly.6 → Create Ply After) 3
2. Select “oss_base_plate”and Honeycomb material
3. Switch to tab Thickness and select the “Tapering” Edge Set and an angle of 20° for tapering of the
core
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Define Composite lay-up on the Base Plate

2

1 1

1. Check tapering of the core using the section cut (right click on SectionCut.1 and select Show)
2. Update the model
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Define Composite lay-up on the Base Plate

1 3
2
1. Copy the first Modeling Ply of the Base_Plate Modeling Group (ModelingPLy.1)
2. Complete the laminate of the base plate by Pasting the ply six times (Create plies after
core ply, ModelingPLy.7)
3. Modify the angles of the single plies to 0°, 90°, -45°, 45°, 0°, 90° to make the laminate
symmetric, use the Excel Link as before or update directly the angle of each ply
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Create a Second Rosette

Rosette.2
2
1
Rosette.1
2
1. Create a second Rosette
2. Orient the Rosette as shown above. Please refer to the previous instructions on how to
define directions for the rosette by picking elements
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Create Oriented Selection Set for the Stringer

1
1 2
3 3
1. Create the Oriented Selection Set “oss_stringer” using Joint1 and Joint 2 as Element Sets
2. Select an Orientation Point and define the Orientation Direction
3. Select Rosette.2 as a Rosette
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Create lay-up for the Stringer

1 2
2
1. Create a new Ply Group Stringer
2. Create ten layers for the stringer (0°, 90°, 0°, 90°, 0°, 0°, 90°, 0°, 90°,0°) on the stringer OSS
using the Epoxy Carbon UD fabric.
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• Multiple rosettes can be defined to specify the direction of oriented selection sets: this
allows to capture ply draping over complex geometries.
• The angle between the element lay-up orientation and the z-direction of each rosette can
be used as a criterion (max or min angle) to select the appropriate rosette. The X
direction of each rosette controls OSS direction

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Create Oriented Selection Set for Bonding Left

2 2
4 3
4
1.
1
Create Oriented Selection Set “oss_bonding_left”
2. Select Plate2 and Joint1 as Element Sets
3. Select an Orientation Point and define the Orientation Direction
4. Select Rosette.1 and Rosette.2 (holding CTRL) and choose the minimum angle as Selection Method
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Create Oriented Selection Set for Bonding

1
2

1. Activate the purple Orientation as well as the yellow Reference Direction arrows.
2. Flip direction and change the Selection Method to understand their effect on the OSS defined
before

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Create lay-up for Bonding Left

1
1. Create a new Modeling Ply Group and name it “Bonding_Left”
2. Create a 45° layer and a -45° layer for the bonding
(Fabric Epoxy_Carbon_UD_395GPa_Prepreg, oss_bonding_left)
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Create lay-up for Bonding Left

1
2
1. Copy Modeling Plies (ModelingPly.24 and ModelingPly.25)
2. Right mouse button on Modeling Ply.25→ Paste after. This creates two new plies. Do this 3 times.
3. Modify the angles of the lay-up (45°, -45°, 45°, -45°, 45°, -45°, 0°,90°) using excel as before or by
specifying directly the value in each of the Modeling Ply Properties.
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 Multiple rosettes can be defined to specify the direction of oriented
2. T-Joint selection sets: this allows to capture ply draping over complex
geometries. The angle between the element lay-up orientation and the
z-direction of each rosette can be used as a criterion (max or min angle)
Create a Third Rosette to select the appropriate rosette. The X direction of each rosette
controls OSS direction

Rosette.2

1 2
Rosette.3

2
1. Create a third Rosette
2. Orient the Rosette as shown above

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Create Oriented Selection Set for Bonding Right 23

3
2 44
4
1.
1
Create a new Oriented Selection Set oss_bonding_right Choosing a minimum angle Selection
Method makes determination of an
2. Select Plate3 and Joint1 as Element Sets element's Reference Direction fail: an
alternate computation method is used
3. Select an Orientation Point and define the Orientation Direction and a warning is issued.
4. Select Rosette.2 and Rosette.3 and maximum angle as Selection Method
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Create Layers for the Bonding Right

1
2
1. Create a new Modeling Group named Bonding_Right
2. Create eight layers for the bonding (45°, -45°, 45°, -45°, 45°, -45°, 0°, 90) on the
oss_bonding_right using the Epoxy Carbon UD fabric.
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Create Oriented Selection Set for the Cover

2 2
4 3 3
1.
1
Create a new Oriented Selection Set oss_cover
4
2. Select Plate1, Plate2, Joint1 and Joint 2 as Element Sets
3. Select an Orientation Point and define the Orientation Direction
4. Select Rosette.1 and Rosette.2 and minimum angle as Selection Method
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Create Layers for the Cover

2
1
2
1. Create a new ply named Ply Group Cover
2. Create four layers for the cover(45°, -45°, 0°, 90) on the oss_cover using the Epoxy
Carbon UD fabric.
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• Check the final lay-up!

• Review fiber directions using Section Cuts, Sampling Points and fiber direction vectors!
• Plot an Angle Plot and show the design angles on a Section Cut.

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The concepts of t-joint modeling can be
applied to the modeling of bulk heads
as well.

Controlling the lay-up orientation and

lay-up reference direction is
fundamental to the use of ACP

Examples of ribs and bulkheads on the GER-72 America’s Cup sailing boat
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Workshop Summary

• In this workshop you learn the use of OSS in combination with multiple rosettes

• You can build up in different directions from the same surface

• The lay-up orientation is independent of the element normal direction

• As a user, you can model as you would build the part. Put ply on ply. And you need not
worry about the ply offsets.

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