Optimization of CFRP components positioning inside the autoclave through CFD simulations

Carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) show an excellent balance between thermomechanical properties and low density, leading them to be the material of choice in many applications. In the past years, the use of polymer matrix composites has significantly increased in the aerospace, automotive and naval sectors. Correspondingly, the requirements on high performance and quality keep increasing with the market demand. This generates a big concern on material properties along with the production of a large number of components, minimizing cycles’ time. This document deals with the optimization of the distribution of composite components inside the autoclave obtaining therefore, the best configuration in order to achieve fair properties in all the elements in the shortest time possible. This study has been done along with the company Eligio Re Fraschini S.p.A., analyzing one of their autoclaves. The aim is to find the best configuration for a given repetitive production. The optimization procedure that has been followed consisted in, for each of the three different productions considered, assess a set of models representing contrasting scenarios, in order to understand the flow behaviour and find the optimal distribution. The outcomes for the different locations are obtained through simulations performed with Ansys Fluent, a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) software; the ideal configuration is the one maximizing the heat transfer through all the components, in an homogeneous way.