MAXIMUM STIFFNESS DESIGN OF LAMINATED COMPOSITE PLATES VIA A CONSTRAINED GLOBAL OPTIMIZATION APPROACH

Abstract

The optimal lamination arrangements of laminated composite plates with maximum stiffness subject to side constraints are investigated via a constrained multi-start global optimization approach. In the optimal design process, the deformation analysis of laminated composite plates is accomplished by utilizing a shear deformable laminated composite finite element and the optimal design problem, which has been converted into an unconstrained minimization problem via the general augmented Lagrangian method, is solved by utilizing the proposed unconstrained multi-start global optimization technique to determine the optimal fiber angles and layer group thicknesses of the laminated composite plates for attaining maximum stiffness and simultaneously satisfying the imposed side constraints. The feasibility of the proposed constrained multi-start global optimization algorithm is validated by means of a simple but representative example and its applications are demonstrated by means of a number of examples on the maximum stiffness design of symmetrically laminated composite plates. The effects of length-to-thickness ratio, aspect ratio, and number of layer groups upon the optimum fiber angles and layer group thicknesses of the plates are investigated.