Numerical simulation of the process manufacture of large-scale composite shell taking into account thermo viscoelastic

The aim of this work is to obtain the evolution of contact pressure on the surface of the forming mandrel during the manufacture of large-scale composite shells by continuous winding. A numerical analogue of a real structure is built in the form of a system of assembly equipment, a forming mandrel and a shell. Effective viscoelastic characteristics for the shell material are obtained on the basis of experimental data and the concept of multilevel modeling. A series of computational experiments has been carried out to verify the model of thermoviscoelastic behavior of a composite material; the model is a combination of anisotropic elastic behavior of a medium with one independent viscoelastic operator. It has been found that, at the stage of winding, the influence of the behavior model of the shell material is not significant because viscoelasticity of the mandrel material makes the greatest contribution to the reduction of the contact pressure on the mandrel surface. Based on the data obtained, a conclusion is made that it is advisable and important to take into account the rheological properties not only of the material of the forming mandrel but also of the multilayer shell. The methods of finite element analysis presented in the work and the computational modules and programs implemented on their basis, as well as the calculation results, are of great practical importance for automating the process of predicting the evolution of the stress-strain state at the technological stages of manufacturing structures of the mandrel-shell type. Contribution of the authors: the authors contributed equally to this article. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.