Gaps, overlaps, boundary coverage
Gaps and overlaps are mostly geometry, so they can be computed before layup. Copy a steered course by sliding it sideways ("shifted" courses) and the spacing between neighbours shrinks to d·cos φ where the path tilts by φ: overlap w(1 − cos φ). Copy it by offsetting ("parallel" courses) and the spacing holds, but the inner courses curve tighter until they break the minimum steering radius and have to stop, leaving gaps.
Predict · at 2:45 in the video
So here's one to work out. A forty-five degree ply meets a straight edge. Quarter-inch tows, cut square. How long is each tooth of the staircase?
Exactly one tow width: six point three five millimetres. The tow end and the edge make a right triangle. One side is the tow width.
Automated Fiber Placement: Status, Challenges, and Evolution, Ramy Harik & Alex Brasington.
- Chapter 3, section 2.1
- Chapter 3, section 2.5
- Chapter 3, section 2.6
Simulations in this lesson are our own. Where the numbers are invented to show a mechanism, the video says so on screen.
