Sequential estimation of the generated curing heat of composite materials by data assimilation: A numerical study

The models and parameters related to the generated curing heat in the molding simulation of composite materials are dependent on the type of resin used and the experimental conditions. Therefore, in this study, we estimated the generated curing heat that changes with time by a data assimilation method, which combines the observation values with simulation values, so that the heat curing simulation of carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) becomes closer to the experimental conditions. In the data assimilation method, the temperature distribution on the surface of the composite material was used as an observation value, and the generated curing heat was estimated using an ensemble Kalman filter. By optimizing the data assimilation parameters in advance using the response surface method and estimating the generated curing heat by numerical experiments, the generated curing heat could be estimated with an accuracy represented by the time mean error of less than 6%.