Manufacturing distortions of curved composite panels

This paper briefly discusses the influences of through-thickness thermal expansion, a misaligned ply, and a resin-rich slightly thicker ply on the deformations of a curved composite laminate during cool down from the cure temperature. Both two-dimensional and three-dimensional level finite-element analyses are used. The deformations are categorized as to radial and tangential deformations and twist, and for each of the three influences, these deformations are quantified. An additional outcome of the study is an indication of the level of analysis needed to study each of these three influences.