SHAPE OPTIMIZATION OF INTERIOR CUTOUTS IN COMPOSITE PANELS

This paper presents validated results of the optimization of cutouts i n laminated carbon-fibre composite panels by adapting a recently devel oped optimization procedure known as Evolutionary Structural Optimizat ion (ESO). An initial small cutout was introduced into each finite ele ment model and elements were removed from around this cutout based on a predefined rejection criterion. In the examples presented, the limit ing ply within each plate element around the cutout was determined bas ed on the Tsai-Hill failure index. Plates with values below the produc t of the average Tsai-Hill number and a rejection ratio (RR) were subs equently removed. This process was iterated until a steady state was r eached and the RR was then incremented by an evolutionary rate (ER). T he above steps were repeated until a cutout of a desired area was achi eved.