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Design and simulation for composite materials

Composite materials are transforming modern engineering. By combining two or more distinct materials, engineers create structures that are stronger, lighter, and more durable than anything a single material can achieve alone.

What are composite materials?

Industries worldwide are racing to adopt composites — driving demand for faster, smarter ways to design and validate these high-performance materials.

Engineers harness the power of design and simulation to unlock the full potential of composite materials — from carbon fiber reinforced polymers to advanced glass fiber structures. By defining precise material properties, fiber orientations and layup sequences, teams simulate real-world mechanical, thermal and dynamic loads before a single prototype is built. Simulation tools reveal stress distributions, predict failure modes and expose structural weaknesses early — slashing development costs and accelerating time to market. Across aerospace, automotive and energy industries, design and simulation empowers engineers to build lighter, stronger and smarter composite components with confidence.

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Navigating composite complexities

Composite materials offer incredible advantages, yet their unique properties introduce significant engineering and manufacturing challenges. We understand these critical hurdles and are equipped with innovative approaches to help you overcome them effectively.

Increasing material complexity

Unlike metal, composites behavior varies with fiber orientation, layup sequence and material combinations. Their anisotropic nature complicates predicting structural response, demanding advanced modeling and specialized expertise.

Structural validation becomes difficult

Validating composites is more complex than with traditional materials, involving multiple failure modes and requiring both extensive testing and simulation to align virtual models with real-world performance.

Manufacturing variability

Composites are highly sensitive to manufacturing. Resin distribution and fiber placement can cause defects—voids, delamination or warping—that affect structural performance. Consistent production remains a costly challenge.

Composite design and simulation software solutions

Advanced design and simulation software tackles the toughest composite engineering challenges head-on. From early-stage design through to manufacturing, it empowers engineers to move faster, simulate smarter, and build better composite products with confidence.

A piece of carbon fiber weave material

Composite workflow integration

Siemens unifies composite design and manufacturing—from concept and simulation to fiber path planning and production—eliminating costly data handoffs and preserving design intent throughout the process.

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Accelerate design optimization

NX and Simcenter let engineers quickly test thousands of design options—fiber orientations, layup sequences and materials—reducing development time, cutting prototypes and helping teams find the best design faster.

FEA contour plot showing stress or displacement distribution in a composite component.

Failure prediction & validation

Simcenter simulation tools effectively model composite failure modes like delamination, fiber breakage and matrix cracking, allowing engineers to catch structural issues early and enhance safety while minimizing costly redesigns.

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Manufacturing-aware design

Siemens connects design and manufacturing by simulating producibility with performance, ensuring composites can be built as designed by considering draping, curing and fiber placement before costly tooling and production.

How can you ensure the products you make with composite materials will meet performance and manufacturability requirements?

Engineers use design and simulation to maximize composite materials’ potential, predicting performance and weaknesses early. This process builds lighter, stronger, smarter components for aerospace, automotive and energy industries.

Producible composite design with darts showing flat pattern in NX Composites

Siemens products for composite design and simulation

Siemens offers a robust, integrated software suite for composite engineering, streamlining everything from design to manufacturing. Engineers can work faster, simulate more efficiently and build superior products, helping organizations gain a strong competitive advantage.

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Designcenter X NX Essentials

Browser-based essential NX CAD, CAM and CAE tools. Create and edit NX data in a lightweight experience, with zero translation, from anywhere.

Simcenter Multiscale Designer

Merges the modeling, simulation, uncertainty quantification, and optimization of composite material-based structures at multiple spatial and temporal scales
CFD simulation of a vehicle component made with the Simcenter Nastran software.

Simcenter Nastran software

Accurately simulate products for structural strength, vibration and acoustics. Simcenter Nastran is a premier solver for performance, accuracy and scalability.
Visual of a 3D model created with the Simcenter 3D software.

Simcenter 3D software

Address complex engineering challenges by enhancing simulation efficiency. Simcenter 3D is one of the most comprehensive, fully-integrated CAE solutions.

Learn more

Watch

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Listen

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