D. Sadagopan et R. Pitchumani, APPLICATION OF GENETIC ALGORITHMS TO OPTIMAL TAILORING OF COMPOSITE-MATERIALS, Composites science and technology, 58(3-4), 1998, pp. 571-589
Composite materials tailoring refers to the concurrent manipulation of
the materials composition and internal architecture to achieve the de
sired properties. Since the wide variety of material combinations, rei
nforcement geometries and architectures to choose from poses a bewilde
ring task of selection, a systematic approach to optimal materials tai
loring is of much practical importance in the engineering design of co
mposites, and is addressed in this article. The study presents an opti
mal tailoring framework based on the combinatorial optimization techni
que of genetic algorithms in conjunction with a property model base co
nsisting of analytical microstructure-property relationships. Optimum
designs are reported for case studies involving property requirements
that ave typical of selected practical applications. The present appro
ach is systematically compared with the alternative approach based on
the simulated annealing technique reported previously by the authors.
The comparative studies are used to draw general inferences concerning
the relative merits of both these approaches in the context of optima
l composite materials tailoring. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All ri
ghts reserved .