Automated Tape Laying (ATL) Process Simulation Through 3D Thermo-Mechanical Model

The present paper describes the current state of work done during the STELLAR project on the ATP/ATL simulation. To assess the welding quality of the thermoplastic tapes, the computation of the contact pressure, the temperature and the phase evolution in the matrix (evolution the degree of crystallinity) are first importance. In the present paper, a two steps approach is described to simulate the process, and we especially focus on the temperature field history assessment. In the first step, the heating flux boundary conditions imposed by a laser to the tape, the head-tool and the support is assessed thanks to a ray tracing model. Then these heating boundary conditions are used in an explicit approach to solve the 3D thermo-mechanical problem.