Instruction for 3-D Effective Properties Analysis (using micromechanics) 

Step 1: Enter no. of materials used in the analysis

Step 2: Input Material Properties

Software will give two options to input material properties (Click "Manual Entry" box to get the options):

• Manual Entry
• Selection from database

(the default is "Manual Entry" meaning that users must enter all material properties manually. The 2nd option is "Selection from database", where users can choose materials from the database (e.g., carbon, Kevlar, glass and epoxy))

Note: Fiber volume fraction and ply thickness are common entries for both "manual" and "database" options.

Step 3: Click "Save Data" at the end of the page

Note: Step 2 and 3 should be repeated for no. of materials chosen.

Step 4: Check Material Data

Software will give the following options:

• Enter the Ply Sequence
• Check Fiber and Matrix Data
• See the Ply Material Data
• Re-enter Material Data

If the entered data are satisfactory, click on "Enter the Ply Sequence" to enter the stacking sequence of the laminate.

Step 5: Ply Arrangement

Software will give you two options to enter the stacking sequence

• "Type of Ply Arrangement",

(the default is "Sequence" meaning that a particular sublaminate stacking sequence can be repeated for the whole laminate. The 2nd option is "Ply repetition" meaning that each ply orientation can be repeated individually.)

• "Symmetric/Asymmetric laminate"

(Software provides the option of making the ply arrangement chosen (i.e., Sequence or Ply repetition) symmetric or asymmetric)

Note: For the case of Ply repetition, there is a limit of 4 orientations.

Next, Choose "yes" or "no" for the Convergence Study. If you pick "yes", Percentage of Convergence (i.e., the convergence tolerance) is required for this option.

Step 6: Click "Save Data" at the end of the page

Step 7: See the Results

Software will give the following options:

• See the results
• Re-Enter The Ply Sequence
• Re-Enter Ply Material Data
• Re-Enter Fiber and Matrix Material Data
• Go back to the Composite Design Software

If all the entered data are correct, nothing should be changed. Click on "See the results" option to solve the problem.

• The results of the 3-D Effective Properties can be observed using "numerical output" only (i.e., E's, G's, nu's, alpha's, and beta's)".
• The results of the Convergence Study can be observe using either "numerical output" which gives the final converged material properties result (i.e., E's, G's, nu's, alpha's, and beta's)", or the "graphical results" which gives the convergence curves for properties versus the number of sublaminates (i.e., laminate thickness) for E's and G's.

Click on "Go back to the Composite Design Software" if you want to start a new analysis.