Reading a Stack-Up File From Plies

This task shows you how to modify a stack-up file and then import it to apply the changes to the plies of a Composites part.

Available in Composites Engineering Design (CPE).
Open the Stack-UpFile2.xls file and the Stack-UpFile2.CATPart document.

  1. In the stack-up file, go to the line of Ply.1 and modify the values as follows:

    • Ply name: Ply.A
    • Material: KEVLAR4

  2. Go to line of Ply.49 and modify the values as follows:

    • Ply name: Ply.B
    • Material: KEVLAR4

  3. Insert a new line before Ply.54 and type in the following values:

    • Plies Group: Plies Group.2
    • Sequence: Sequence C
    • Ply name: Ply.C
    • Material: U174_T800
    • Direction: 90

  4. Insert a new line at the end of the file and type in the following values:

    • Plies Group: Plies Group.3
    • Sequence: Sequence.Z
    • Ply name: Ply.Z
    • Material: GLASS
    • Direction: 0

  5. Save the stack-up file and close it.

  6. Click the Ply Table Import icon .
    The Plies Creation From Stack-Up File dialog box is displayed.

  7. Click the ...  button to define the path where the stack-up file is stored.

  8. Select the Stack-UpFile2 file you previously modified and saved.

  9. Click OK.
    You are informed if the import succeeded or failed.

    The specification tree has been modified according to the changes you made in the stack-up file.

  10. Generate again a stack-up file to take into account the modifications you made in the stacking and recreate the geometric references of the plies.

  11. Open the newly generated stack-up file and check the values for Ply.C and Plies Group.3.

    Ply.C inherited the reference surface and the draping of Plies Group.2 as well as a new geometric reference.
    Plies Group.3 inherited the surface reference and the draping of the stacking as well as a new geometric reference.
Thanks to this geometric reference, you can modify the stacking according to your needs since the geometric reference associates
  • each line of the stack-up file with a ply in the stacking of the Composites part;
  • each ply to a geometry, that enables you to  switch a geometry between two plies.
 

  1. Check the geometry of Ply.A and Ply.B in the Stack-UpFile2.CATPart.

  2. In the stack-up file, set the geometric reference of Ply.A to 49.

  3. Then set the geometric reference of Ply.B to 1.

  4. Save the stack-up file and close it.

  5. Click the Ply Table Import icon .

  6. Select the Stack-UpFile2 file you previously modified and saved.

  7. Click OK.
    The geometries of both plies are switched with one another.