Identification of non uniform thermal contact resistance in automated tape placement process

In this work focussing on the thermal modeling of the automated tape placement process applied to thermoplastic material, we study the thermal properties of the ply interfaces during in-situ consolidation. Through the comparison of experimental measurements and numerical simulations, we show that it is necessary to consider the existence of an interply thermal contact resistance (TCR). Furthermore, we show that in order to correctly predict the measured temperatures, the value of the thermal resistance has to evolve along the process although a very simple evolution law is sufficient.