Ply stacking sequence optimization of composite laminate by permutation discrete particle swarm optimization

Stacking sequence optimization (SSO) of laminate will greatly improve its mechanical properties without weight penalty. In this paper, a novel permutation discrete particle swarm optimization (PDPSO) method was proposed to perform SSO. To improve the efficiency of the algorithm, the concepts and techniques of valid/invalid exchange, checking memory and Self-escape were introduced into the PDPSO. In total 11 examples were presented. First, eight examples were carried out by employing the proposed method. The results show that the computational efficiency of PDPSO is greatly improved compared with standard discrete particle swarm optimization (SDPSO), and is comparable with that of gene rank crossover (GR) and partially mapped crossover (PMX). Then, three extra examples were presented, in which the outermost plies in the optimum design are not ±45° plies. The results show that the PDPSO has better stability and potential which demonstrate the better performance of PDPSO for laminates.