Laminates

Laminate entities define laminates, which make up a laminated structure by defining the stacking sequence of ply entities that make up the laminated structure.

Ply Laminates: Define laminates which make up flat or slightly curved laminated structures.; Ply laminates stack ply entities. The stack direction for the plies of a ply laminate is in the direction of the element's normal.

Figure 1.

Sub-Laminates: Similar to ply laminates in that they also stack ply entities. However, sub-laminates define only a portion of a laminate rather than a complete laminate structure.; The stack direction for the plies of a sublaminate is defined by an interface definition within an associated interface laminate. However, the ply order defined within a sublaminate must remain in the defined order. An interface definition of an interface laminate defines which ply of the sublaminate is on “top” and which is on the “bottom” relative to the elements normal.

Figure 2.
Interface Laminates: Define laminates which make up complex laminated structures that wrap around corners.; Interface laminates stack sublaminates. The stack direction for the sublaminates of an interface laminate is in the direction of the element's normal. The exact stacking sequence of the plies of the sublaminates is defined by the interface definitions within an interface laminate. An interface definition defines which surface plies of two sublaminates touch, or interface, with each other. Each sublaminate stacked within an interface laminate must have at least one interface definition.

Figure 3.