Supplementary data to the paper: Effect of convection coefficient and thickness on optimal cure cycles for the manufacturing of wind turbine components using VARTM

The paper deals with the influence of the convection coefficient and laminate thickness on multi-objective optimisation of the vacuum assisted resin transfer moulding cure stage for the manufacturing of wind turbine components. An epoxy resin system widely used in the wind turbine industry has been chemically characterised and the correspondent finite element implementation validated. The optimisation methodology developed links the finite element solution with a genetic algorithm and identifies a set of optimal cure cycles for a range of thicknesses (10 mm – 100 mm) able to minimise cure time (tcure) and minimise residual stresses by minimising the maximum degree of cure gradient developed through thickness (∆αmax) during the cure stage. The results highlight that, by adding convection coefficient as design parameter of the process optimal solutions benefits were obtained when insulation was applied at the vacuum bag side for all thicknesses.