Optimum design of laminated composite plates under dynamic excitation

An integrated model for optimum weight design of symmetrically laminated composite plates subjected to dynamic excitation is presented in this work. Optimum design procedure based on flexibility and strength criteria is presented. The objective is to determine the optimum thicknesses of the laminate layers and its optimum orientations without exhibiting any failure according to Tsai-Wu failure criterion. The finite element method, based on Mindlin plate theory, is used in conjunction with an optimization method in order to determine the optimum design. Newmark algorithm, as an implicit time integration scheme, is used to discretize the time domain and calculate the transient response of the laminated composite plate. Exterior penalty method is exploited for the constrained minimization procedure. Fletcher-Powell algorithm is used for the unconstrained minimization process. To verify the capability and efficiency of the proposed model, three examples are solved. The examples deal with flexibility and stress constraints for different boundary conditions under various dynamic excitations. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Inc.