Generic stacks and application of composite rules for the detailed sizing of laminated structures

Ntourmas, G.; Glock, F.; Daoud, F.; Schuhmacher, G.; Chronopoulos, D.; Özcan, E.

Abstract

Two-stage approaches are commonly applied to optimise the stacking sequence of large-scale composite structures. The two stages consist of a gradient and non-gradient based optimisation addressing the mixed nature of continuous and discrete constraints and design variables of the detailed sizing of laminated structures. For the two-stage process to be successful, all constraints from both stages should be fulfilled eventually. This study employs generic stacks to model the thickness and stiffness distribution of the structure. A generic stack is comprised of a collection of layers whose orientations are fixed a priori, but thicknesses can vary independently enabling exploration of the design space. To achieve a ‘right first time’ implementation and avoid burdensome iterations over both stages, a maximum amount of discrete design and manufacturing constraints should be considered in the gradient-based optimisation stage. A special attention is paid to the continuity or blending constraint which can be formulated precisely using generic stacks. The results for a benchmark case show that the introduced two-stage approach can, not only satisfy all imposed constraints in a single iteration of the overall two-stage process but also yield a lower structural mass when compared to equivalent previously proposed approaches.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 30, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Aug 8, 2021
• Publication Date: Nov 15, 2021
• Deposit Date: Dec 14, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 9, 2022
• Journal: Composite Structures
• Print ISSN: 0263-8223
• Electronic ISSN: 1879-1085
• Publisher: Elsevier BV
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 276
• Article Number: 114487
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2021.114487
• Keywords: Civil and Structural Engineering; Ceramics and Composites
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7016417
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263822321009491?via%3Dihub