NACA Duct Tutorial

Part 1 Part Design

1. Start CATIA and select the GSD workbench
Start>shape>Generative shape design
2. Change units to inches
Tools>options>parameters and measure>units

3. Select a new part

file>new In the dialogue window select part and click ok. A new dialogue opens, enter
NACA duct as the name for the tutorial, check create a geometric set, and select OK. Right
click on the geometric set in the tree and click properties<feature properties to change the
name to NACA duct.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

4. Select the xy plane in the tree or on the screen and click on the Sketch command.
The screen will switch to the sketcher workbench. Create and dimension the sketch
shown in the figure below.

5. Exit the Sketcher workbench by clicking on the Exit command.

The screen switches back to the GSD workbench. Click on the screen so that the
orange color of the profile changes to white.
6. Select the Extrude command
on the Surfaces toolbar. Select
the Sketch made in step 4 and enter information in the dialogue
window as shown below. Right click in the direction box to
select the z direction. Click OK.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

7. Select the zx plane in the tree or on the screen and click on the Sketch command.
The screen will switch to the Sketcher workbench. In the sketcher workbench
select the black triangle below the
Point command
on the Profile
toolbar which opens the point
toolbar. Double click the Point by using coordinates command and enter the following
coordinates: (1,-1), (0, 0), (-.49, 0.32), (-1.2, 0.65), (-5, 1.25), and (-7, 1.25)
8. Select the Spline command
from the
Profile toolbar and connect the first 5 points
made in step 7 with a spline as shown in the
figure below.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

9. Select the Line command from the Profile

toolbar and connect point 5 and point 6 with a
line.

10. Exit the Sketcher workbench by clicking on the Exit command. The screen switches
back to the GSD workbench. Click on the screen so that the orange color of the
profile changes to white.
11. Select the Join command from the Operations toolbar. Click on
the Spline (step 8) and Line (step 9) on the screen and click OK
in the dialogue window.

12. Select the Extrude command in the Surfaces toolbar. Select

the Join made in step 11 and enter the information in the
dialogue window as shown below. Right click in the direction

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

box to select the y direction and check the Mirrored Extend button. Hide Sketch.2 and
Join.1 in the tree.

13. Select the Trim command. It might be hidden behind

the Split command. Click on the black triangle to show
the trim command if necessary. When the trim
command is selected a dialogue window will open and
fill in the information as shown in the figure below. You
might have to select the other side buttons to achieve
the desired outcome.

14. Select the xy plane in the tree or on the screen and click on the Sketch command.
The screen will switch to the Sketcher workbench. In the Sketcher workbench select
the Rectangle command
from the Profile toolbar
and draw a rectangle around the part. Dimension as
shown in the figure below.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

15. Exit the sketcher workbench by clicking on the Exit command.

The screen switches back to the GSD workbench. Click on the screen so that the
orange color of the profile changes to white.
16. Select the Fill command
on the Surfaces toolbar. Select the
sketch profile you made in step 14 and click OK.

17. Select the Trim command. It might be hidden behind

the Split command. Click on the black triangle to
show the Trim command if necessary. When the trim
command is selected a dialogue window will open
and fill in the information as shown in the figure
below. You might have to select the other side
buttons to achieve the desired outcome. Click OK.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

18. Select the black triangle below the Shape fillet

command

in the Operations toolbar. This will open

the Edge fillet command . Select the Edge Fillet

command and select the 2 edges as shown in the figure
below. Enter the information in the dialogue box as
shown.

19. Select the Plane command from the Wireframe

toolbar. In the dialogue window enter the informtion
as shown in the figure below.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

20. Select the Split command from the Operations toolbar. In

the dialogue window fill in the information as shown in the
figure below. Click OK and hide Sketch.3 in the tree

21. Select the black triangle below the

Boundary command
. This will
open the Extracts toolbar. Select the
Multiple extract command
. Set
the Propagation type to Tangent continuity. Click on the edges shown in green on the
part.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

22. Select the Parallel curve command

from
the Wireframe toolbar and select the
Multiple Extract from step 21. Fill in the
information as shown in the figure below and
select OK. Make sure that the parallel curve is on the outside of the Multiple Extract from
step 21. (use Reverse Direction button)

23. Select the Split command

form the Operations
toolbar. Fill in the information in the dialogue box as
shown in the figure below. Use the other side button if
your part doesnt resemble the figure below. Click OK.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

24. Select the black triangle below the Shape fillet

command
in the Operations toolbar. This will
open the Fillets toolbar. Select the Edge Fillet
command and select the edges as shown in the figure
below. Enter the information in the dialogue box as
shown in the figure below and click OK.

25. Hide Parallel.1 and Multiple extract.1 in the tree. Save your file as NACA duct.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

Part 2 NACA Duct Tool Design

1. Start CATIA and select the GSD workbench Start>shape>Generative shape design.
2. Open the NACA Duct CATPart file that was made in the part design chapter.
3. Insert a new geometric set - insert>geometric set - and enter tool surface in the dialogue
window. Your tree should look like the figure below. The line under the tool surface
indicates that this geometric set is in work (active folder). You can switch to another folder
by right clicking on the folder and click on Define in work object.

4. Select the Boundary command from the Operations

Toolbar. Select complete boundary and the part edge
(Edgefillet.2)

5. Select the Multiple Extract command

from the Operations
toolbar select the highlighted edge as shown in the figure
below. Change the propagation type to Tangent continuity.
Click OK.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

6. Select the Extrapolate command

from the Operations
toolbar and select the Multiple Extract created in step 5. Select
the surface (EdgeFillet.2) as the extrapolated and change the
continuity box to tangent. For length enter 4 in. See figure below. Click OK.

7. Select the xy plane and select the Sketcher command

part and dimension it as in the figure.

. Make a rectangle around the

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

8. Exit sketcher.
9. Click on the Split command
in the Operations toolbar. Select
the part surface as the element to cut and the sketch created in step 7 as the cutting
element. Click OK.

10. Hide Sketch.4 in the tree.

11. Select the Multiple Extract command
from the Operations
toolbar select the highlighted edge as shown in the figure below.
Change the propagation type to Tangent continuity. Click OK.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

12. Click on the Extrude command

in the Surfaces toolbar and
select the multiple Extract created in step 11 as shown in the
figure below. Fill in the dialogue box as shown in the figure.
Right click in the Direction window to select the x component and click OK.

13. Select the Join command from the Operations toolbar.

In the dialogue window select Split.3 and Extrude.3 in
the tree or on the screen and click OK.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

14. Select the Plane command from the

Wireframe toolbar in the dialogue window
enter the information as shown in the figure
below.

15. Select the plane created in step 14 and select the Sketcher command
dimension a line as shown in the figure below.

. Draw and

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

16. Exit Sketcher

17. Click on the Extrude command
in the Surfaces toolbar and
select the line created in step 15 as shown in the figure below.
Fill in the dialogue box as shown in the figure. Right click in the
Direction window to select the z component and click OK.

18. Select the Trim command. It might be hidden behind

the Split command. Click on the black triangle to show
the trim command if necessary. When the trim
command is selected a dialogue window will open and
fill in the information as shown in the figure below.
You might have to select the Other side buttons to
achieve the desired outcome.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

19. Select the Multiple Extract command

from the Operations
toolbar select the highlighted edge as shown in the figure below.
Change the propagation type to Tangent continuity. Click OK.

20. Click on the Extrude command

in the Surfaces toolbar
and select the edge shown in the figure below. Fill in the
dialogue box as shown in the figure. Right click in the
Direction window to select the x component and click OK.

21. Select the Join command from the Operations toolbar.

In the dialogue window select Trim.3 and Extrude.5 in
the tree or on the screen and click OK.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

22. Select the Edge Fillet command from the Operations

toolbar. Click on the edges shown in the figure below.
(note: click on the center of the red lines which will
highlight all edges at once)

23. A warning box might appear and click close. Your part should look like the figure below.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

24. Select the Boundary command from the Operations

Toolbar. Select Point continity and the part edge
(Edgefillet.2) as shown in the figure below.

25. Click on the Extrude command

in the Surfaces toolbar
and select the Boundary created in step 24. Fill in the
dialogue box as shown in the figure. Right click in the
Direction window to select the z component and click OK

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

26. Select the Join command from the Operations toolbar.

In the dialogue window select EdgeFillet.3 and Extrude.6
in the tree or on the screen and click OK.

27. Hide all Boundaries, sketches, lines, planes and Multiple Extracts in the tree.
28. Save the file as NACA duct tool design.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

Part 3 NACA Duct Ply Geometry

1. Start CATIA and select the GSD workbench Start>shape>Generative shape design.
2. Open the NACA Duct Tool Design CATPart file that was made in the tool design chapter.
3. Insert a new geometric set - insert>geometric set - and enter Ply Geometry in the dialogue
window. Your tree should like in the figure below. The line under the Ply Geometry
indicates that this geometric set is in work (active folder). You can switch to another folder
by right clicking on the folder and click on Define in work object.

4. The Heal command is used to correct small surface problems with the tool. Sometimes
small gaps exists when the part is imported into CATIA, expecially if the source file is not a
CATIA CATPart file. Select the Heal command from the Operations toolbar . It is most likely
hidden under the Join command
. Click on the black triangle
below the Join command which will open the Join-healing
toolbar . Click on the Heal command
surface and click OK.

and select the tool

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

5. Change the color of the tool to brown or other color of your choice. Click on the triangle
next to the color selector and select the more color button in the bottom of the menu to
select a color of your choice.

6. Right click on Boundary.1 in the tree (It is located in the Tool

surface geometric set) and click on hide/show to show the
boundary.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

7. Select the Parallel Curve command

from the Wireframe
workbench and select the Boundary.1, which was created in
step 6, from the tree or pick the white profile on the tool.
Click on the tool surface and enter .25 in. as a constant and reverse the direction. Select
Preview and make sure that the new curve is located on the outside of the Boundary.1.
This new curve is the outside of the composite plies that will be placed on the tool surface.
Composite part edges are typically made larger than the part dimensions so that the edges
can be trimmed to achieve a high quality edge.

8. Hide Boundary.1 in the tree or on the screen.

9. Select the Axis System command
from the Tools toolbar and click on
the lower left vertex of the tool. Make sure that the z axis points up. Click
OK.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

10. Save your work as NACA Duct Ply Geometry

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

Part 4 Composites Catalog

Before the composite workbench can be used, a composite catalog needs to be set up or an
existing catalog must be available. This tutorial will create a simple composite catalog which will
be used to complete the tutorials of this book.
Composite materials are available in many different material types and styles. Carbon fiber and
Fiberglass are the most common types of material used for Aerospace applications. These
materials are available in both unidirectional and bi-directional styles. Unidirectional materials
are often called Tape and Bi-directional materials are called Fabric. The type and style of the
material greatly affect the strength and draping characteristics of the material. The composite
designer must choose the best material for the application based on mechanical properties and
the draping characteristics of the material. It is important to enter the correct material
thickness of the material and draping (deformation) because CATIA is using this information for
the design of composite plies. To learn more about composite materials consult: Structural
Composites: Advance composites in aviation by Ronald Sterkenburg and Peng Hao Wang.
1. CATIA has a standard composites material catalog which can be accessed using the
following link: Program Files>Dassault Systemes>B21>win_b64>startup>composites.
(Note: Most companies have created their own customized catalogs.
2. Go to the link in step 1 and click on the CompositesCatalog and the catalog should look like
the figure below.

3. Create a new catalog. Click on insert>new family

4. Select the New Material command

in the Material Library toolbar.

.
5. Double click on the New Material Icon on the screen. This will open the properties dialogue
window. Click on Feature Properties tab and change the Feature Name to Unidirectional
Carbon.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

6. Select the Composites tab and enter the information as shown in the figure below.

7. Repeat steps 4 thru 6 to create four more materials: Carbon Fabric, 8 harness Carbon
Fabric, Fiberglass Fabric and Honeycomb. Enter the information as shown below (you dont
have to enter anything for honeycomb at this time):

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

8. Save the Material Catalogue as: Material Catalog

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

Part 5 NACA Duct Ply Design

1. Start CATIA.
2. Open the NACA Duct Ply Geometry CATPart file that was created in the Ply Geometry
section. Switch to the Composite Design workbench: start>mechanical design>composite
design or use your favorite menu.
3. Click on the Composites Parameters command.
It is one of the few commands that
can be selected at this time.
A dialogue window opens. Click on the Add materials tab (left figure)
Click on the button with the three dots in it.
A new dialogue window opens and select file. Now you can browse for your
Materials Catalogue which was made in the Materials Catalog tutorial.

4. Locate the Composite Catalog on your computer and double click on it. This opens a new
dialogue window.
Click on Carbon Fabric and use the ctrl button on
the keyboard to select 8 harness carbon fabric. This
imports the material information to the Composite
Parameters window.
Click on Default and select the remove button.
Click on the 0 degree ply and change the color to
yellow.
Click OK.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

5. Select the End of Part (EOP) command

from the
Manufacturing toolbar.
EOP name MEOP (Note: MEOP means
Manufacturing End Of Part)
Surface Click on Healing.1 in the tree or on the
surface on the screen.
Contour Click on Parallel.1 or click on the line
indicated (red) in the figure below.
Click OK. An EOP and MEOP are created in the tree.

6. Select the Ply Group command

in the Plies toolbar.
A dialogue window opens.
Surface select Healing.1 in the tree or click on
the surface.
Draping direction Make sure that the red arrow points
up. Click on Reverse Direction if it is pointing down.
Rosette Click on the axis system.
Check the box Lock plies draping direction.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

Select OK. A plies group is created in the tree.

7. Select the Ply command

from the Plies
toolbar, and click on PliesGroup.1 created in
step 6. This opens a dialogue window.
Select the Geometry tab and click
on the MEOP in the tree.
Select the Attributes tab
o Material Fiberglass fabric
o Direction 0 degree
Click OK. A ply is created on the surface. You can only see the yellow outline.

8. Select the Producibility

Flattening toolbar.

command from the

In the dialogue window enter the following information

Selection click on ply.1 in the tree
Check Point Indication and click on the surface. A
strategy point appears: the long blue line indicates the
zero degree direction and the red line indicates the 90
degree direction. The middle of the ply is a good

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

starting point to start the analysis. This point is used by the laminator and it is
the first point of the ply that will be placed on the tool.
Set the Mesh Parameters to .1 in
Propagation type Symmetric
Click Apply. Note that there are blue, yellow, and red areas on the screen.
o Blue: deformation of the ply is less than 15 degrees (this is good)
o Yellow: deformation of the ply is more than 15 and less than 30 degrees.
(this might represent difficulty in laying up the ply without wrinkles)
o Red: deformation of the ply is more than 30 degrees. (The red areas will
present problems during layup and a wrinkle will appear).

9. Click on other points on the tool surface and click Appy again. The producibility will change
depending on where we chose the Point indication (strategy point). The figure below
shows a major improvement over step 8. Typically, a point near the middle of tool works
best, but try several locations to determine the best option.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

10. Click OK in the Producibility window. The blue mesh will

disappear and the producibility is added to the tree.
11. To remove the yellow areas of the mesh we will have to make darts in the ply or cut the ply
into cut pieces. An alternative could be to select a material that will drape more than the
plain weave carbon fiber fabric such as a 8 harness carbon fiber fabric.
12. Double click on Ply.1 in the tree and in the
dialogue window click on the attributes tab and
change the material to 8 harness carbon fiber.
Click OK.

13. Double click on Producibility in the tree and select a

strategy point on the top of the part as shown in the
figure below. Click on Apply. This time the mesh has no
yellow areas, which indicates that the 8 harness carbon
fiber fabric will lay down without wrinkles.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

14. Copy Sequence.1 in the tree and paste it in PliesGroup.1

three times, the three should look like the figure below.

15. Select the Interactive Ply Table command

from the
Analysis toolbar. Enter the following information in the
table:

Select Ply (1)

Unlock the plies (2) A warning pops up and
click OK
Highlight all plies (3) Use shift command to
highlight all plies
Enter Ply. (4)
Click Rename (5)
Click Apply (6)

16. Change the ply orientation of the plies in the interactive ply table.
Highlight PLY.2 (1)
Change the Direction to 45 (2)
Highlight PLY.3 and change Direction to -45
Highlight PLY.4 and change Direction to 90
Click Apply and OK. (3)

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

17. Double click the Producibility of Ply.2 and check if all areas are blue. If not select another
strategy point (point indication).

18. Repeat step 17 for Ply.3 and Ply.4.

19. Select the Plane command from the Wireframe toolbar and in the
dialogue window select:
Plane type: Offset from plane
Reference: xy plane
Offset: 15in.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

20. Make sure that the new plane goes up and use Reverse Direction
button to change direction if the new plane goes down.
21. Insert a new Geometric Set: Insert>Geometric set. Name: Flattening
points. Click OK.
22. Select the Point command from the Wireframe toolbar. In the
dialogue window enter the following information:
Point type: on plane
Plane: plane created in step 19
H and V coordinates (0, 0)
Click Preview and OK

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

23. Switch to the Generative Shape Design workbench.

24. Select the Rectangular Pattern command
from the Replication toolbar.
Click on the point created in step 22.
Select the plane created in step 19.
Enter the information in the dialogue window as
shown below.
o First direction tab: 4 instances and 15 inches spacing
Click OK.

25. Switch back to the Composite Design workbench.

26. Check if all plies are in the show mode. If not right click on the ply and click Hide/show.
27. Select the Flattening command
from the Flattening toolbar.
In the dialogue window enter the following information:
Entities: Select the PliesGroup.1 in the tree
Plane: Plane.3 created in step 19

Click on the multiselect icon

which opens another window.
Click on the points on the screen to assign location points for the plies.
Click Apply

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

28. Select the Flatten optimization command

the Flattening toolbar.

from

In the dialogue window select PliesGroup.1 in the tree as the entity and click OK. The
curves are smooth now which is desirable if the plies are exported to an Automated Ply
Cutting table (Gerber table).

29. Select the Ply Data Export command and enter the information as shown
in the dialogue window below. Export the file to a folder on your
computer. Click OK.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg

30. Save your file as NACA Duct Ply Design.

CATIA V5 Aerospace Composite Design and Manufacturing by Ronald Sterkenburg