Stiness and Lay-up Optimization of Composite Structures based on a Homogenized Material Approach

• In the present work we propose a two phase composite structure optimization method based on a novel material homogenization approach. It consists of a stiffness and a lay-up optimization problem, respectively, with the aim of obtaining manufacturable composite structures with maximized stiffness properties. The method is applied to a cantilever plate, and numerical tests were performed for three load cases and for a number of parameters settings. The results show that the proposed method can obtain manufacturable composite structures with maximized stiffness properties. In the first phase of the method, the stiffness optimization problem provides an optimal distribution of the composite material, such that the stiffness properties of the structureare maximized. The second phase, the lay-up optimization problem, provides a manufacturable lay-up sequence of discrete plies which attempts to retain the stiffness properties of the structure from the first phase.

Keyword

Fibre-reinforced composites

Composite structures

Material homogenization

Lamination parameters

Variable thickness sheet

Stiffness optimization

Lay-up optimization

Stacking sequence optimization

Manufacturing constraints

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

ovr (subject category)