Multilevel optimization of laminated composite structures

A two-stage optimization method aiming at the optimal design of shells and plates made of laminated composites has been developed. It is based on a mixture of sensitivity analysis, optimality criteria and mathematical programming techniques. The design variables are the optimality criteria and mathematical programming techniques. The design variables are the macro-element thicknesses and the layers' angles. Weight minimization with material efficiency maximization are the objectives with constraints on stresses and displacements. Maximization of the material efficiency is performed at one level using the conjugated method applied to the angles of the macro-element layers keeping the thicknesses constant. The other level is dedicated to weight reduction using optimality criteria and using as variables the macro-element thicknesses with the angles of the macro-element layers constant.     

Stacking sequence optimization and blending design of laminated composite structures

The stacking sequence optimization problem for multi-region composite structures is studied in this work by considering both blending and design constraints. Starting from an initial stacking sequence design, unnecessary plies can be removed from this initial design and layer thicknesses of necessary plies are optimally determined. The existence of each ply is represented with discrete 0/1 variables and ply thicknesses are treated as continuous variables. A first-level approximate problem is constructed with branched multipoint approximate functions to replace the primal problem. To solve this approximate problem, genetic algorithm is firstly used to optimize discrete variables, and meanwhile, a blending design scheme is proposed to generate a blended structure. Starting from the thinnest region, this scheme shares all layers of current thinnest region with its adjacent regions. For non-shared layers in the adjacent regions, local mutation is implemented to add or delete plies to make them efficient designs. The whole process is repeated until the blending rule is satisfied. After that, a second-level approximate problem is built to optimize the continuous variables of ply thicknesses for retained layers. Those procedures are repeated until the optimal solution is obtained. Numerical applications, including a two-patch panel and a corrugated central cylinder in a satellite, are conducted to demonstrate the efficacy of the optimization strategy.

     

Coordinative optimization method of composite laminated structures based on system reliability

This paper develops the coordinative optimization method based on system reliability for laminated structures. The proposed method improves the rough RBO based on first layer failure (FLF) criterion for composite laminates, and the coupling optimization method of thickness and sequence in traditional RBO strategy based on last layer failure criterion (LLF) is improved. In this paper, the finite element analysis is used to obtain the response for the failure based on two-dimension Hashin failure criterion (the limit function). Obviously, the stiffness of composite materials will decline due to destruction of elements. Therefore, stiffness degradation is considered to describe the process of damage evolution. Subsequently, combining with the branch-bound method (B&B), we can complete the search of main failure sequences and calculate the system reliability with the help of the second-order upper bound theory. In order to guarantee the efficiency and accuracy of optimization, the adaptive GA algorithm is introduced in the whole optimization procedure. After the proposed optimization policy is given in detail, two laminated structures are presented and the results are compared with the traditional optimal method based on safety factor, which demonstrates the validity and reasonability of the developed methodology.

     

Optimal design of laminated composite beam structures

This work deals with design sensitivity analysis and optimal design of composite structures modelled as thin-walled beams. The structures are treated as a torsion-bending resistant beams. The analysis problem is discretized by a finite element technique. A two-node Hermitean beam element is used. The beam sections are made from an assembly of elements that correspond to flat layered laminated composite panels. Optimal design is performed with respect to the lamina orientations and thickness of the laminates. The structural weight is considered as the objective function. Constraints are imposed on stresses, displacements, critical load and natural frequencies. Two failure criteria are used to limit the structural strength: Tsai-Hill and maximum stress. The Tsai-Hill criterion is also adopted to predict the first-ply-failure loads. The design sensitivity analysis is analytically formulated and implemented. An adjoint variable method is used to derive the response sensitivities with respect to the design. A mathematical programming approach is used for the optimization process. Numerical examples are performed on three-dimensional structures.     

A finite element model for the analysis of viscoelastic sandwich structures

In this work a finite element model is developed for vibration analysis of active–passive damped multilayer sandwich plates, with a viscoelastic core sandwiched between elastic layers, including piezoelectric layers. The elastic layers are modelled using the classic plate theory and the core is modelled using the Reissener–Mindlin theory. The finite element is obtained by assembly of N “elements” through the thickness, using specific assumptions on the displacement continuity at the interfaces between layers. The lack of finite element plate-shell models to analyse structures with passive and active damping, is the principal motivation for the present development, where the solution of some illustrative examples and the results are presented and discussed.     

Nonlinear buckling optimization of composite structures

The paper presents an approach to nonlinear buckling fiber angle optimization of laminated composite shell structures. The approach accounts for the geometrically nonlinear behaviour of the structure by utilizing response analysis up until the critical point. Sensitivity information is obtained efficiently by an estimated critical load factor at a precritical state. In the optimization formulation, which is formulated as a mathematical programming problem and solved using gradient-based techniques, a number of the lowest buckling factors are included such that the risk of “mode switching” during optimization is avoided. The presented optimization formulation is compared to the traditional linear buckling formulation and two numerical examples, including a large laminated composite wind turbine main spar, to clearly illustrate the pitfalls of the traditional formulation and the advantage and potential of the presented approach.     

Optimal design of sandwich and laminated composite plates based on the planning of experiments

Optimal design problems of sandwich plates with soft core and laminated composite face layers, and multilayered composite plates are investigated. The optimal design problems are solved by using the method of the planning of experiments. The optimization procedure is divided into the following stages: choice of control parameters and establishment of the domain of search, elaboration of plans of experiment for the chosen number of reference points, execution of the experiment, determination of simple mathematical models from the experimental data, design of the structure on the basis of the mathematical models discovered, and finally verification experiments at the point of the optimal solution. Vibration and damping analysis is performed by using a sandwich plate finite elements based on a broken line model. Damping properties of the core and face layers of the plate are taken into account in the optimal design. Modal loss factors are computed using the method of complex eigenvalues or the energy method. Frequencies and modal loss factors of the plate are constraints in the optimal design problem. There are also constraints on geometrical parameters and the bending stiffness of the plate. The mass of the plate is the objective function. Design parameters are the thickness of the plate layers. In the points of experiments computer simulation using FEM is carried out. Using this information, simple mathematical models for frequencies and modal loss factors for the plate are determined. These simple mathematical functions are used as constraints in the nonlinear programming problem, which is solved by random search and the penalty function method. Numerical examples of the optimal design of clamped sandwich and simply supported laminated composite plates are presented. A significant improvement of damping properties of a sandwich plate is observed in comparison with a simple plate of equal natural frequencies.     

Sensor placement optimization applied to laminated composite plates under vibration

The location optimization of sensors is a essential problem in structural health monitoring systems. Taking the cost of sensors into account, it is uneconomical to install sensors on every part of a structure and moreover in aeronautical industry, the weight is a crucial factor. In this paper, a optimal placement optimization of sensor locations for structural health monitoring systems is studied. Several techniques of optimization of sensors are approached and applied in a shell structure. The structure, a laminate of carbon fiber, was modeled by the finite element method (FEM) and then subject to free vibration. Genetic algorithms (GAs) are then employed to locate the best sensor distribution to cover a specific number of low frequency modes. Numerical results have demonstrated the overall efficiency of sensor delivery methods. Specific problems occurred, especially regarding the method of effective independence, being less efficient and discrepant in relation to the other methods employed. In summary, the results obtained in this paper provide an optimal position for sensors in real SHM systems and experiments.     

Reliability based design with a degradation model of laminated composite structures

Uncertainties in deviations of physical properties lead to a probabilistic failure analysis of the composite materials. The proposed optimization model for laminate composites is based on reliability analysis considering the ultimate failure state. To avoid difficulties associated with the complete analysis of the failure modes, bounds are established for the failure probability of the structural system. These bounds are related with theintact and degraded configurations of the structure. Using thefirst ply failure and thelast ply failure theories and a degradation model for the mechanical properties with load sharing rules we obtain the failure probabilities corresponding to the two above configurations. The failure probability of each configuration is obtained using level 2 reliability analysis and the Lind-Hasofer method.The optimization algorithm is developed based on the problem decomposition into three subproblems having as objectives the maximization of the structural efficiency atintact and degraded configurations of the structure and weight minimization subjected to allowable values for the structural reliability. Additionally, the search for the initial design is performed introducing a weight minimization level. It is expected to explore the remaining load capacity of the structures afterfirst ply failure as a function of the anisotropic properties of the composites. The design variables are the ply angles and the thicknesses of the laminates. The structural analysis for the model developed is performed through the finite element method mainly using the isoparametric degenerated shell finite element. The sensitivities are obtained using the discrete approach through the adjoint variable method. In order to show the performance of the analysis two examples are presented.     

Dynamic instability of composite laminated rectangular plates and prismatic plate structures

Periodic dynamic loadings may cause dynamic instability of a structure through parametric resonance. In this paper, a B-spline finite strip method (FSM) is presented for the dynamic instability analysis of composite laminated rectangular plates and prismatic plate structures, based on the use of first-order shear deformation plate theory (SDPT). The equations of motion of a structure are established by using Lagrange's formulation and they are a set of coupled Mathieu equations. The boundary parametric resonance frequencies of the motion are determined by using the method suggested by Bolotin through a novel development which incorporates the Sturm sequence method and the multi-level substructuring technique to achieve reliability, efficiency and accuracy. Various loading patterns, arbitrary lamination and general boundary conditions are accommodated. A variety of numerical applications is presented to test the developed method and to study the dynamic instability behaviour of single plates and of complicated plate structures under various types of dynamic loading. A dynamic instability index (DII) is devised to measure the degree of instability against certain parameters which include the thickness-to-length ratio, the degree of orthotropy, the fibre orientation, the loading pattern and the boundary conditions.     

Discrete Material and Thickness Optimization of laminated composite structures including failure criteria

This work extends the Discrete Material and Thickness Optimization approach to structural optimization problems where strength considerations in the form of failure criteria are taken into account for laminated composite structures. It takes offset in the density approaches applied for stress constrained topology optimization of single-material problems and develops formulations for multi-material topology optimization problems applied for laminated composite structures. The method can be applied for both stress- and strain-based failure criteria. The large number of local constraints is reduced by the use of aggregate functions, and the developed approach is demonstrated for optimization problems involving both constant and varying thickness laminated composites.     

Multiobjective optimization of laminated composite parts with curvilinear fibers using Kriging-based approaches

This paper describes the multiobjective optimization of parts made with curvilinear fiber composites. Two structures are studied: a square plate and a fuselage-like section. The square plate is designed in two ways. First, classical lamination theory (CLT) is used to obtain the structural response for a plate with straight fibers designed for maximum buckling load and maximum stiffness. The same plate is then designed with curved fibers using finite element analysis (FEA) to determine the structural response. Next, the fuselage-like section is designed using the same FEA approach. The problems have three to twelve variables. To enable the resulting Pareto front to be visualized more clearly, only two objectives are considered. The first two optimization problems are unconstrained, while the last one is constrained by two project requirements. To overcome the problem of long computational run time when using FEA, Kriging-based approaches are used. Three such approaches suitable for multiobjective problems are compared: (i) the efficient global optimization algorithm (EGO) is applied to a single-objective function consisting of a weighted combination of the objectives, (ii) a technique that involves sequential maximization of the expected hypervolume improvement, and (iii) a novel approach proposed here based on sequential minimization of the variance of the predicted Pareto front. Comparison of the results using the inverted generational distance (IGD) metric revealed that the approach (iii) had the best performance (mean) and best robustness (standard deviation) for all the cases studied.     

旋转粘弹性夹层梁非线性自由振动特性研究

对旋转粘弹性夹层梁的非线性自由振动特性进行了分析.基于Kelvin-Voigt粘弹性本构关系和大挠度理论,建立了旋转粘弹性夹层梁的非线性自由振动方程,并使用Galerkin法将偏微分形式振动方程化为常微分振动方程.采用多重尺度法对非线性常微分振动方程进行求解,通过小参数同次幂系数相等获得微分方程组,并通过求解方程组及消除久期项来获得旋转粘弹性夹层梁非线性自由振动的一次近似解.用数值方法讨论了粘弹性夹层厚度、转速和轮毂半径对梁固有频率的影响.结果表明:固有频率随转速增大而增大,随夹层厚度增大而减小,随轮毂半径的增大而增大.     

Topology optimization of piezoelectric macro-fiber composite patches on laminated plates for vibration suppression

Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization - This work presents a new methodology for the topology optimization of piezoelectric actuators in laminated composite structures with the objective of...     

Concurrent topology optimization of multiscale composite structures in Matlab

Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization - This paper presents the compact and efficient Matlab codes for the concurrent topology optimization of multiscale composite structures not only in 2D...     

Topology optimization of periodic microstructures for enhanced dynamic properties of viscoelastic composite materials

We present a topology optimization method for the design of periodic composites with dissipative materials for maximizing the loss/attenuation of propagating waves. The computational model is based on a finite element discretization of the periodic unit cell and a complex eigenvalue problem with a prescribed wave frequency. The attenuation in the material is described by its complex wavenumber, and we demonstrate in several examples optimized distributions of a stiff low loss and a soft lossy material in order to maximize the attenuation. In the examples we cover different frequency ranges and relate the results to previous studies on composites with high damping and stiffness based on quasi-static conditions for low frequencies and the bandgap phenomenon for high frequencies. Additionally, we consider the issues of stiffness and connectivity constraints and finally present optimized composites with direction dependent loss properties.     

轴向运动粘弹性夹层梁的横向振动

研究了小扰度下轴向匀速运动粘弹性夹层梁的振动模态和固有频率.基于Kelvin粘弹性本构方程,建立了轴向运动粘弹性夹层梁横向振动控制方程.分别采用Galerkin截断和复模态分析方法,研究两端简支的粘弹性夹层梁的固有频率和模态函数,讨论了轴向运动速度、夹心层与约束层厚度比、初始轴力等参数对夹层梁固有频率、临界速度及稳定性的影响.