Patent ID: 8108058

Claim:
A method using a computer for generating a data product that allows for enhanced design, analysis and manufacture of a composite structure comprising a plurality of plies, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining as-designed geometric ply definitions from an engineering source; inputting the as-designed geometric ply definitions into a computer aided manufacturing (CAM) software program to generate a numerically coded tool path definition containing centerline data for each tape or tow course comprising a ply; programming tape or tow course shape definitions of a plurality of plies in the computer aided manufacturing (CAM) software program to produce a plurality of as-manufactured ply definitions as strips of tape or tow courses; using the computer aided manufacturing (CAM) software program to generate an accumulated dataset of as-manufactured ply definitions; using a customized software program to analyze the dataset to obtain a data product containing results relating to manufacturing implementation of the as-manufactured ply definitions; using the customized software program to evaluate and visualize potential impact of the data product; using the customized software program to interrogate the data product in order to enhance design, analysis and manufacture of the composite structure; and, using the customized software program to evaluate the as-manufactured ply definitions against actual tape or tow distribution occurring at a ply level in relation to all plies above and below the ply level in a composite stack.