Panel design tool

Tell us the load.
We'll tell you the laminate.

Composites don't come in standard sections. Metal does: you pick a plate thickness and move on. This walks you to a composite panel the same way. Five questions. Change anything you already know.

Method: Gibbs & Cox, Marine Design Manual for FRP, Chapter 6.

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How big is the panel?

The short side does the work. A 24 × 16 panel bends across the 16.

Length in Width in

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How is it held at the edges?

Clamped edges carry about a third of the deflection of a panel that just rests on a frame.

Rests on a frame Simply supported. Screwed down at corners, sits in a rabbet, or you're not sure. The safe pick. Bonded or bolted all round Clamped. Glued into a flange, or bolted on a tight pattern on every edge.

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What does it carry?

Pick the closest job. We turn it into a uniform pressure you can override.

Uniform pressure psi Factor of safety on ultimate 2 for short-term static loads. 4 for loads held for weeks, or cyclic.

How stiff does it need to feel?

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What is it made of?

Engineers care about the properties, not the ply list. Pick a skin and a core and we'll find the lightest stack. Or tell us the laminate you already have.

Have a specific fabric and schedule in mind? Calculate its properties and bring them back here.

Skin laminate Core "None" sizes a solid laminate.

Plies per skin Core thickness

Enter your laminate as properties. Strengths are ultimate, psi.

E, warp E, fill G Poisson's ratio Flexural strength, warp Flexural strength, fill Compressive strength Tensile strength Cured ply thickness (in) Ply weight (lb/ft²)

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Recommended laminate

Sizing…

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Checks

Other options that pass

Method and limits

Method and the glass-polyester properties are from Gibbs & Cox, Marine Design Manual for Fiberglass Reinforced Plastics (McGraw-Hill, 1960), Chapter 6. Plate formulas are for small deflections and uniform pressure. Sandwich panels use the manual's strip-beam method, which it shows to be conservative. Modern epoxy and foam values are typical published numbers, not test data: good for a budget layup, not a certified part. No point loads, fatigue, impact, or holes. Not a structural sign-off.

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