Knowledge-Based Software Systems for Composite Design, Analysis and Manufacturing

Composite materials and structures are often avoided in general aviation vehicle applications because they are believed to be unnecessarily complex to design and analyze, and because manufacturing concerns often drive up cost and weight prior to component final delivery. In addition, concerns for component qualification are often cited, which relates to quality control and repeatability within manufacturing. These concerns may be readily overcome with modern software solutions that enable consideration of a significantly increased breadth of disciplines and definition of true three-dimensional geometry at the earliest stages of preliminary design. This paper addresses two such applications of knowledge-based software systems for composite materials and structures, wherein embedded knowledge capturing proven engineering practice is concurrently applied to design, analysis and manufacturing concerns.