Title: Optimal design of multilayered composite plate using bio-inspired optimisation techniques

Authors: M. Amrita; N. Mohan Rao

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, GIT, GITAM University, Gandhi Nagar, Rushikonda, Visakhapatnam-530 045, Andhra Pradesh, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College of Engineering, Kakinada, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Kakinada – 533 003, Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract: Fibre reinforced composite materials are widely used in construction of components of aircraft, ships and marine structures that are subjected to high compression loads. One of the important problems in fibre reinforced composite markets is to find the optimal stacking sequence which tailors the properties of the composite structures. The motivation of the study is to apply the newly developed bio-inspired technique particle swarm optimisation (PSO) and compare its effectiveness with other optimisation techniques genetic algorithm (GA) and pattern search method in the design of composite structures. As a case study, a square and rectangular thick plate subjected to uniaxial or biaxial loading is considered and it is optimised to find the layer orientation which maximises the buckling load. This work showed that GA performs better than PSO and pattern search method and so is the preferable method in design of composite plate structures.

Keywords: composite laminates; fibre orientation; uniaxial loading; biaxial loading; optimal design; first-order shear deformation theory; FSDT; buckling analysis; thick plates; particle swarm optimisation; PSO; genetic algorithms; GAs; pattern search; bio-inspired computation; fibre reinforced composites; stacking sequence; composites design.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIC.2011.042255

International Journal of Bio-Inspired Computation, 2011 Vol.3 No.5, pp.306 - 319

Received: 02 Aug 2010
Accepted: 31 Oct 2010
Published online: 12 Nov 2014 *

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