Practical design of tapered composite structures using the manufacturing cost concept

The tapered composite laminates are optimized by a patchwise layup design m ethod. In this approach, the weight of tapered composite laminates under th e strength constraints was minimized. For this purpose, stacking sequences and the number of plies were optimized. The design variables were the discr ete ply angles such as 0 degrees, +/-45 degrees, and 90 degrees and the num ber of plies in each patch. The design results are compared with the unifor m thickness laminates. It showed that the optimized layup could considerabl y reduce total weight of the composite laminates. Also, a new design concep t - manufacturing cost - for the expenditure of manufacturing such as time and labor is proposed. The composite laminates designed by the consideratio n of manufacturing cost were more practical than those designed by only str ength constraints. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights r eserved.