Flexural stiffness-based optimum design of hybrid laminated composites

Abstract

A new design method of designing hybrid laminated composite plates with required flexural stiffness is proposed. The objective function is the cost of the plates and the constraints are imposed on their thicknesses and their flexural stiffnesses. New parameters which are functions of the stacking sequence of the plate and control the flexural stiffness are proposed and they are called hybrid lamination parameters. The optimum design is performed by investigating the feasible design region on the hybrid lamination parameter plane. This is easily done with the aid of computer graphics. The illustrative example is given for graphite and glass hybrid composites.

Keywords:

• composite materials
• hybrid composites
• material design
• flexural stiffness
• lamination parameters