A laminated fibre reinforced composite structure is usually tailored, according to the design objectives, by choosing the individual constituents and of their volume fractions, the fiber orientation, the laminae thicknesses and orientation of the plies, their number and stacking sequences, as well as the fabrication procedure. To achieve the best results, optimization techniques have been developed. In recent years, some optimization methods, that are conceptually different from the traditional mathematical programming techniques, have been developed. These methods are labeled as modern or nontraditional methods of optimization. This paper provides a review of modern optimization methods, used for the design of composite structures: Genetic Algorithm (GA), Simulated Annealing Method (SAM), Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm (PSOA) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO). The existing published studies emphasize the suitability of these methods, which allows that many design parameters and constraints to be used in the optimization process of composite structures.
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