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Real Time Composite Design

Start with material data. Build the ply and laminate, then see how processing and loading change the response. Keep the inputs and assumptions connected as you work.

Try Demo Why composites? Live study Get started with CDS ↗

Three guided Workbench examples · Free registered account · 30-day demo

CDS Workbench laminate optimization view with the project navigator, layup editor, carpet plot, and live laminate

CREATE

Build a starter recipe

DISCOVER

Explore what changes

SIMULATE

Launch Workbench

TEACH COMPOSITES WITH CDS

Teach through the engineering work.

Give the class a study to work through, compare their submissions and return changes they can try. Set the Workbench mode for the class, grade with rubrics and run anonymous design competitions.

Explore the Education Portal →

CDS educator workspace with class, assignment and submission status; synthetic demonstration class

The workflow

Follow the material from Micro to Macro.

Carry the inputs, assumptions and methods into the next analysis, then see how they affect the result.

01 / Materials

Start with the material data you have.

Build reusable fiber, matrix, filler, adhesive, core, vendor and composite-system records. Compare their properties with the units, sources and editable assumptions beside them.

01Source-aware records02Zero-term completion03Table and Ashby comparison

Current CDS Engineering Workbench materials library with a filled comparison table and Ashby chart

CDS / Model hierarchy

Start with the material.
Follow it through the design.

Choose a stage below to follow the material through micromechanics, laminate construction, processing and structural response. Keep the records connected as the study grows.

Select a block to explore its inputs, results and theory. Run the engineering solvers in Workbench.

Materials

Traceable constituent properties

Start with source-aware elastic, strength, density and transport data. Teaching records help you explore; qualified design requires appropriate allowables.

InputFiber, matrix and coreResultTraceable constituent properties

Fatigue is optional and separate from progressive failure. An S–N life prediction is not a stiffness or strength reduction. Finite-plate CLT/FSDT and thick-wall cylinder studies have their own limits; they do not automatically include every process or failure model.

CREATE / Design recommendations

What would you like to make?

Choose a simple part. Start from a connected CDS exercise, then change one thing and see what happens.

1. Choose a part and loadTension panelPull along the lengthBending stripPush at the centerPressure tubePressure from inside

2. Include a process study?Explore a thermal cycle tooCompare surface and core temperatures during heating.

Start with an already-cured laminate and its mechanical response.

Teaching recommendations, not an optimized or validated part. Review material data, loads and model limits in Workbench before running.

Recommended starting point · 25 min

02.08 · Laminate orientation and tensile response

Start with a flat coupon so you can see how fiber direction changes the response to a tensile force.

Open this exercise in Workbench ↗Read the exercise steps →

Connected input preview · two-row workflow. Gray blocks are not configured; this is not a solved result.

Your first design experiment

Compare symmetric cross-ply and balanced ±45° layups at the same thickness. Then add layers and compare the stiffness and mass.

Models, checkpoints and limits

Models: Classical laminate theory · Linear static · ASTM D3039-17(2025)-based

Geometry supplies the finite coupon width; the load is a total force.
A symmetric layup should have negligible extension–bending coupling.
Uniform resultants give uniform in-plane stress/strain at fixed depth. Shape magnification changes only the drawing; this elastic interior field does not resolve grips, notches or damage.

ASTM-based teaching geometry, not certification. Grips, tabs, alignment and physical test validity are not simulated.

Read the model background →

Links open the shared exercise in Workbench. These website choices recommend a study; they do not modify or save a database. Editing and running remain subject to your Workbench access.

↑ Back to Create · Discover · Simulate

Inside CDS WB

See what changed and why.

Inspect the material, laminate and loads beside the calculated response. Open the operating guide or model assumptions when you need to check what the result means.

Light-mode Workbench first-ply Nx–Ny failure envelope comparing Hashin, maximum strain, maximum stress, Tsai–Hill and Tsai–Wu — Compare five failure criteria → Actual Workbench capture of a 16-ply T700 teaching laminate, with mechanical loading only. First-ply initiation boundaries; 24 rays per theory. Teaching strengths, not qualified design allowables.

Actual light-mode Workbench combined membrane and bending failure result: evolving ply stress map beside through-thickness normal and shear stresses — Stretch, bend and follow damage → Actual 16-ply T700 teaching run: [Nx, Ny, Nxy] = [100, 25, 15] kN/m; [Mx, My, Mxy] = [150, −50, 25] N. All six components ramp together. Maximum-stress progression at load factor 2.061; last-ply endpoint 2.662. Mechanical loading only; teaching strengths, not design allowables.

Failure and envelopesCompare criteria, inspect progressive damage and understand load-factor limits.Optimize and preserve a studyInspect the best-found candidate, save a snapshot and compare saved cases.Live sync, with clear provenanceKnow what updates immediately and which process contributions need a new run.Equations and assumptionsTrace the material-to-response connection and the boundaries of each execution path.

Work with connected data

Keep the inputs with the result.

Connected engineering data

Build the study in one tree. Move or duplicate records in bulk, choose the entities you need, and keep the tabs, local settings, loading and saving close to the work.

Workbench simulation setup linking laminate, geometry and process records with thermal, moisture and structural analysis selections

Connected ply editor and colored laminate stack

InputEngineering inputs

ModelConnected model tree

OutputTraceable decisions

Data Management

Material property management

Keep the source beside each material property. Build records for constituent, transport, strength, thermoset cure and thermoplastic crystallization data, with editable completion values where needed.

Light-mode material comparison with eight records and colored Ashby groups

Material comparison table and Ashby chart

InputFiber and matrix data

ModelProperty management

OutputReusable material record

Mechanical + thermal

Micromechanics prediction

Calculate the ply’s 3D elastic, strength, expansion, density and transport properties. Then vary the microstructure and model inputs to see which choices change those properties.

Actual short-fiber GUI with orientation inputs and a spatially distributed fiber preview

DISCOVER woven fabric GUI with repeating unit cells; illustrative geometry

InputConstituents and architecture

ModelMicromechanics prediction

OutputReusable ply properties

Constituent to ply

Laminate mechanics & failure

Choose the property source for each ply. Compare ABD response, process residual stress and environmental loading using carpet maps, envelopes, laminate optimization and progressive failure.

Light-mode laminate ply editor, angle-colored live stack and ABD properties

Five-criterion laminate failure envelope

InputPly models, loads, and environment

ModelCoupled progressive failure

OutputFields, properties, and events

Real Time Design

Process & environmental response

Set each surface condition and follow the steady-state or transient heat and moisture response. Examine cure exotherm, changing modulus and shrinkage, then compare process-cycle choices.

Prepregging Live Process GUI with six heating zones and four rollers

Solved through-thickness temperature field

InputThermal and moisture history

ModelHeat and diffusion response

OutputThrough-thickness fields

Environmental effects

Structural performance

Apply loads and supports to a plate, cylinder, beam or joint. In the Virtual Test Lab, inspect the mounted specimen and compare its setup with the calculated response plots.

Workbench Response stress view with global component curves across the laminate thickness

Real combined membrane and bending progressive failure with through-thickness stresses

InputGeometry, loading, and supports

ModelStructural mechanics

OutputStress and deformation

Factors of safety

Engineering results & automation

Save an optimization snapshot before changing the study. Compare results, automate repeat studies and export the tables and model-validation data in common engineering formats.

Laminate Ex–Ey carpet plot with an interactive design point and corresponding live laminate stack

InputDesign study cases

ModelAutomate and compare

OutputReports and model exports

Repeatable validation data

Integrated composite workflow

Follow the material through micromechanics, laminate construction, processing and structural analysis. Keep the inputs connected so you can examine what each design change does downstream.

InputMaterial and design requirements

ModelConnected CDS workflow

OutputDefensible design validation data

End-to-end engineering

User Manual

Check where the result comes from.

Follow a plotted field or exported value back to its material data and model assumptions. The User Guide takes you through the setup so you can check the study as you build it.

01Define

Materials, geometry, loads, environment

→

02Resolve

Mechanics, coupling, failure, uncertainty

→

03Decide

Trade studies, margins, reports, exports

Help center

Work through an example, or look closer.

Use the guides to set up a study, understand a result or resolve a setup problem. If your composite problem needs a closer look, bring it to the CDS team.

CDS User Guide

Start with the materials, choose a mechanics model, apply the loads and check the outputs in order.

Open the User Guide

CDS Theory Manual

Check the equations, required inputs and limits of each micromechanics, laminate and bonded-repair method before using its result.

∑ Open the Theory Manual

CDS Training Manual

Open a shared Workbench exercise, follow the setup and change one thing. Use the tasks, checkpoints, limits and references to examine the result.

Open all exercises

04Composite theory reference

Technical library

Micromechanics of Composites

Browse the complete web edition covering elastic micromechanics, textile and thermophysical behavior, damage and failure, with equations, assumptions and physical interpretations.

Elastic micromechanicsTextile & thermophysicalDamage & failure

CDS Engineering Workbench validation and model-input interface

Browse Micromechanics

0512-section web reference