Simulation and modeling of the braiding process

Abstract The CFK-braiding technology is characterized by its high degree of automation, its enormous reduction potential for the process time, and the excellent failure behavior; thereby, it became one of the most promising manufacturing technologies for the production of lightweight pressure vessels. This chapter describes a digital process simulation chain to reduce processing time. A finite element method simulation model for creating CPU efficient braiding simulations is explained that includes complex friction states as well as complex geometries. For this purpose, the initial model is divided into submodels such as roving model, spool model, braiding ring model, braiding core model, and contact model. For each submodel, influencing factors are identified such as for the roving model: Young’s modulus, cross-sectional area, mesh size, mass scaling, and element type. Improvements are made in a two-thread model. A multithread model is created by a multiplication of the two-thread model. This allows to vary the number of rovings very easily without restructuring the whole model.