Optimal design of a thick-walled sandwich pipe

Abstract

This paper presents a procedure for obtaining an optimal design for sandwich composite pipes. Two designs are considered, namely the optimal design of flexural stiffness and bending strength with regard to certain weight or cost and that of minimum weight and minimum cost with regard to certain flexural stiffness or bending strength. There are many design variables to consider when structuring a sandwich composite pipe. To simplify the design parameters, therefore, a set of non-dimensional variables is presented as design parameters for the optimization of sandwich pipe structures. In this paper, the influence of the design parameters on the flexural rigidity and bending strength of sandwich pipes is discussed with reference to such non-dimensional design parameters. Reduced weight and cost can be achieved by carefully selecting the parameters and geometry of a sandwich pipe.