Merging Plies

You can merge plies, created in the same representation (not in collaborative work) using any approach (manual, solid or grid).

Note: This task is available in Composites Design.

See Also
About Merging Plies
  1. From the Plies Design section of the action bar, click Merge Plies .
    Note: You are in Ply mode, meaning you merge plies. You can switch to Sequence mode, meaning you merge sequences.
    • You deal with couples of sequences.
    • Whenever possible, plies are merged within the final sequence in one shot, whereas several merges would be required in Ply mode.
    • This dialog box can be resized for a better display of the information.
  2. Under Reference plies, select the first Plies Group to process.

    The plies it contains are the Reference plies

  3. Under Plies to be merged, select the second plies group.

    Tip: Resize the dialog box as required.

    The dialog box is updated with information about the reference plies, the plies to be merged and the status of possible merges.
  4. Check the status of each couple of plies.
    1. Select a line in the dialog box:

      • The plies are highlighted in the 3D area to help you make a decision (reference plies have a solid highlight, plies to be merged have a highlight with dots, both in the color of their orientation).
      • Arrows and Remove are made available in the dialog box, when pertinent.

    2. Use the Down or Up arrow to move plies one rank downward or upward.
    3. Click Remove in Reference plies to remove one reference ply or in Plies to be merged to remove one ply to be merged (only the relevant one is available).
    4. Once the status allows it, right-click it to merge or not merge plies.
    The status of each couple of plies is updated after each action.
  5. Optional: Select the Check connections check box and enter required values.

    By default:

    • Check connections is not selected.
    • Maximum deviation and Angle threshold are not accessible. They become accessible and editable once Check connections is selected.
    • Maximum deviation is 0.001 mm.
    • Angle threshold is 0.5 deg.

    The status of Check connections, and the values of Maximum deviation and Angle threshold are modal.

    • The distance of the vertices of a common edge and the two angles at the vertices are verified.
    • If the distance and the angle are below the Maximum deviation and the Angle threshold, the connections are valid. Plies can be merged.
      • If Prevent merge is selected, a KO status is displayed, the plies are not merged.
      • If Prevent merge is cleared, a warning is issued. Right-click to merge or not the plies.

    The position of the vertices of a common edge

    and the two angles at the vertices are verified.

    • If the distance between two vertices is within the Maximum deviation, and the angle is within the Angle threshold, the connections are valid and the plies are merged.
    • If the distance between two vertices is greater than the Maximum deviation, or the angle is greater than the Angle threshold, the connections are not valid:
      • If you have selected the Prevent merge check box, a KO status is displayed in the dialog box and the 3D area. The plies are not merged.
      • If you have not selected the Prevent merge check box, a warning status is displayed in the dialog box and the 3D area. Right-click it to merge or not the plies.

  6. Once all the KO are solved, click OK to start the merge and exit the dialog box. A message informs you of how the merge will be done. Click OK to validate.

The merge is performed:

  • The plies that have been removed from the list of plies to be merged have remained untouched.
  • All the other plies to be merged have been moved to the sequence of their counterpart of the reference plies.
  • Whenever possible, the geometries of the plies to be merged have been merged and a new contour has been created.
  • Otherwise, the ply to be merged has been moved to the sequence of the reference ply.
Note:

When a ply to merge has no associated reference ply, and when this ply belongs to a sequence with at least one ply that will be correctly merged, a message is displayed, asking for your confirmation. If you click OK, the ply with no associated one follows the merged ply in the same sequence.

When:

  • A ply to merge has no associated reference ply, but does comply with the case above,
  • This ply belongs to a sequence whose plies are all to be merged,
  • A couple of plies that can be merged correctly exist right before this ply in the stacking order,

A message is displayed, asking for your confirmation. If you click OK, the complete sequence containing this ply with no associated ply is moved right behind the sequence containing the above-mentioned mergeable couple of plies.