A hybrid DQ-TLBO technique for maximizing first frequency of laminated composite skew plates

Abstract

The differential quadrature (DQ) and teaching-learning based optimization (TLBO) methods are coupled to introduce a hybrid numerical method for maximizing fundamental natural frequency of laminated composite skew plates. The fiber(s) orientations are selected as design variable(s). The first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) is used to obtain the governing equations of the plate. The equations of motion and the related boundary conditions are discretized in space domain by employing the DQ method. The discretized equations are transferred from the time domain into the frequency domain to obtain the fundamental natural frequency. Then, the DQ solution is coupled with the TLBO method to find the maximum frequency of the plate and its related optimum stacking sequences of the laminate. Convergence and applicability of the proposed method are shown and the optimum fundamental frequency parameter of the plates with different skew angle, boundary conditions, number of layers and aspect ratio are obtained. The obtained results can be used as a benchmark for further studies.