DESIGN OPTIMIZATION PROCESS WITH APPLICATION TO THE COMPOSITE STRUCTURAL ELEMENT

Abstract

The paper deals with a numerical approach of modelling of laminate plates and with their optimal design. It provides bases for the modelling of mechanical behaviour of laminates by reviewing general assumptions of classical laminate theory (CLT).Elements of optimization of laminate plates are also discussed. The thicknesses of layers with the known orientation, referred as the thickness variables, will be used as design variables. The optimization problem with strength constraints will be formulated to minimize the laminate weight. Analytical and numerical approaches outlined in this paper are accompanied by computer generated example. There are depicted distributions of numerical results during the optimization process.