Independent boundary schedules
Thermal and moisture loads each need compatible material properties, a laminate, initial conditions and their own surface schedule.
Workflow / 03.4 Processing
Connect design intent to
process behavior.
Solve steady-state or transient through-thickness process response before structural analysis, using effective ply transport properties, independent top and bottom schedules, cure exotherm, cure-dependent modulus, polymer kinetics, water uptake or release, and process-cycle optimization.
Cursor: 30 min · 300 mm · 120.0 °C
03.4 / Workflow focus
Connected engineering recordThermal and moisture formulations
Choose the steady or transient transport model for the study. Transient histories resolve the supported one-dimensional through-thickness problem.
Cure, crystallization and UV
Assigned calibrated material laws govern supported polymer-state calculations. UV cure needs its exposure inputs; pultrusion needs the distance/time relationship and pulling speed.
Supported coupling
A process schedule alone is not a solved history. Only compatible coupled analyses consume recovered environmental fields; reference-elastic studies remain separate.
Tool-release shape
The separate free-release CLT study uses prescribed temperatures and effective shrinkage. It is not a tool-contact simulation or an automatic transfer of the thermal cure history.
Process optimization
Compare bounded cycle candidates under supported objectives, save the evidence and rerun the selected candidate.
Workbench availability: released models, inputs and compatible study paths. The wider theory library includes reference formulations not available in every Workbench solve.
Use this workflow in Workbench: interactive Blocks, record selections and connection controls →
Connected model layer
Processing · released model connections
Expand a family for inputs, outputs, supported formulations, theory and an exercise. All model families ↗
∑ Cure, crystallization & material transport
Models → material-model folders · assigned through Materials
InputsCalibrated kinetics, modulus or transport laws and material assignmentResults / handoffMaterial laws consumed by compatible Micro or transport calculations
Independent model records can be linked together through material inputs. A saved model must be assigned to a material before it contributes to a simulation.
Formulations and study choices
- Kamal–Sourour autocatalytic
- Kamal–Sourour with diffusion control
- Nth-order Arrhenius
- CHILE (degree of cure)
- UV intensity-dependent cure
- Nakamura–Avrami
- Temperature-dependent tabular
- 1D Fickian diffusion
∑ Thermal transport
Models browser → Thermal transport · source: CASES / Thermal
InputsLaminate transport properties, initial state and the thermal case’s own surface cycleResults / handoffTemperature and supported polymer-state histories; mapped fields only when coupling is enabled
One transport formulation per thermal case. Select its laminate and configure its own initial conditions and surface cycle; pultrusion additionally requires a distance-based die schedule and pulling velocity.
Formulations and study choices
- 1D transient heat transfer
- 1D steady-state heat transfer
- 1D pultrusion thermal cure
∑ Moisture transport
Models browser → Moisture transport · source: CASES / Moisture
InputsLaminate diffusion properties, initial moisture and its own boundary scheduleResults / handoffMoisture history and enabled swelling contribution
One formulation per moisture analysis. Thermal and moisture analyses can both be linked in Simulation; each needs its own boundary conditions.
Formulations and study choices
- 1D transient moisture diffusion
- 1D steady-state moisture diffusion
∑ D5229 · Moisture uptake calibration
Models → Structural models → ASTM · Virtual Test Lab
InputsLinked laminate and explicit specimen, load or measured calibration inputsResults / handoffHomogeneous slab, initially dry, both faces held at equilibrium moisture. Fits diffusivity from two early uptake measurements (both ≤50% saturation) using the square-root-time approximation. Edge ingress and temperature dependence are excluded. Does not overwrite material properties.
Homogeneous slab, initially dry, both faces held at equilibrium moisture. Fits diffusivity from two early uptake measurements (both ≤50% saturation) using the square-root-time approximation. Edge ingress and temperature dependence are excluded. Does not overwrite material properties.
Formulations and study choices
- Virtual test · Fickian uptake calibration
∑ Tool-release shape
Structural models → Tool-release shape
InputsLaminate and prescribed temperatures, CTE and effective post-gel shrinkageResults / handoffFree-release CLT curvature and separate corner spring-in estimate; not an automatic process-history handoff
Free CLT release from prescribed ply-local shrinkage/thermal eigenstrains. Corner spring-in is a separate uniform-strain estimate. Stress-free temperature and effective post-gel shrinkage need calibration. No tool friction, cure kinetics or viscoelastic restraint history.
Formulations and study choices
- Free-release eigenstrain & spring-in