OPTIMUM STACKING-SEQUENCE OF COMPOSITE LAMINATES FOR MAXIMUM STRENGTH

A method is presented for maximum strength optimum design of symmetric composite laminates subjected to in-plane and transverse loadings. Th e finite element method based on shear deformation theory is used for the analysis of composite laminates. Ply orientation angles are chosen as design variables. The quadratic failure criterion which is meant t o predict fracture, is used as an object function for optimum stacking sequence design of a laminated plate. The Broydon-Fletcher-Goldfarb-S hanno optimization technique is employed to solve the optimization pro blem effectively. Numerical results are given for various loading cond itions, boundary conditions, and aspect ratios. The results show that the quadratic failure criterion such as Tsai-Hill theory is effective for the optimum structural design of composite laminates.