The Research of Discrete Optimum Design of Composite Laminate Materials Using Lamination Parameters

摘要

Since lamination parameters were found to represent the stiffness properties and the orientation of each ply, two major stages are defined to do the optimization. In the first stage which is called continuous optimization, the required lamination parameters will be obtained by VICONOPT but this has not been completed. This paper focuses on the second stage which is called discrete optimization. It consists of three programs and the major program is called OPBDP. Random values of required lamination parameters for 4, 8 and 16 plies lay-ups are chosen and assumed, then the results are computed and compared. What is more, a method called double up the plies is introduced and the results show that it could save a lot of solution time but is still only suitable for a small number of plies.