Layup builder
01Overview
Define the layup and place plies directly on the blade. No surface cuts, no composite manufacturing expertise needed.
The layup makes a blade strong and stiff enough for its loads, and it is the part of a design that changes most often. The Layup builder lets you define and map it without touching the geometry.
02What it does
Layup sequence.
Build ply stacks from Material Library materials, setting the orientation, thickness, order and number of plies. Drag and drop to reorder plies, and symmetric layups are mirrored automatically. A simple 3D view makes the stack easy to follow.
Mapping on the blade.
Place plies on the upper and lower side, each covering the span from one profile to another. Add root or leading-edge reinforcement wherever the blade needs it. Placing a reinforcement patch is as simple and fast as it gets: you just draw a polygon around it.
One side, then copy.
Copy one side to the other, so the second side of the blade takes a single step.
Core without CAD work.
Add a solid core, either isotropic or honeycomb, without touching the CAD model. When the model build starts, an automated CAD workflow handles the core in the background.
Reusable stacks.
A layup isn't tied to one geometry, so you can reuse it across designs.
A shared view with manufacturing.
Colour-coded plies give designers and lamination experts one visual reference. Once the design is final, it holds the information needed to prepare a ply book.
03Classical way vs. econblades
Classically, every layup region means cutting surfaces in CAD to a composite engineer's specification, and undoing those cuts often destabilises the CAD model. That takes a CAD engineer and a composites engineer: 2 to 6 hours for a simple layup, around 1.5 days for a detailed one. In econblades, a designer does it in 10 to 30 minutes.
The bigger difference shows in iteration. Classically, teams often design in spare plies up front and suppress them later, because adding a ply means another round through CAD and the FE model. In econblades, adding and removing plies are equally cheap: a few minutes of editing, then an automated rerun of 20 - 30 minutes.
04Inputs and outputs
Materials come from the Material Library, and the surface comes from the Geometry model. The finished layup feeds the structural, vibration and fatigue analyses in Calculation and report. Where layups overlap, the final report gives a detailed overview of how the ply sequence is distributed across the entire geometry.
05Scope
The Layup builder covers preliminary design. Ply overlaps, ply drops and detailed reinforcements belong to detailed design, and there is no automated ply book or cutting pattern export. The downloadable STEP file of the final blade geometry helps lamination tool designers prepare for manufacturing.
06FAQ
Do I need composites expertise?
You need to know what the layup has to achieve. You don't need composite manufacturing or FEA specialist skills to define it.
Does a layup change affect the geometry?
No. Plies are placed on the blade surface, so the geometry stays as it is.
Can I use the layup for manufacturing?
It holds the information a ply book needs and is a starting point for preparing one. The ply book itself is prepared outside econblades.
Can I double-check the layup sequence in a cross-sectional view?
Yes it is possible. Once the layup mapping is defined, the cross-sectional view of all plies can be visualized at the discrete airfoil positions used to loft the blade geometry. That also allows adding extra reinforcement patches between certain airfoil sections using the cross-section views as easily manipulatable drawing areas.