A comparison between two optimization methods on the stacking sequence of fiber-reinforced composite laminate

Abstract

This article is dealing with the study of optimization for the stacking sequence of composite laminates by two optimization methods of simplex and interior penalty. In the simplex method, both the applicable domain of magnifying factors (MFs) and the differences of stacking sequence optimization between symmetrical and unsymmetrical laminate composites are studied. When the values of MFs are 50, 70, 85, the converging of optimization process is faster and its result is more accurate. The strength of the unsymmetrical laminate with fewer layers is larger than that of the symmetric one by 8% only. But when the layers are increased, the strength of symmetric laminate is higher. In the interior penalty method, the error value can be kept within 5–6%, while in the simplex method the more layers the larger the error value. To sum up, proved by progressive failure simulation of finite element analysis, the best strength of composite laminate with optimal stacking sequence can be obtained.