Buckling and first-ply failure optimization of stiffened variable angle tow panels

A computationally efficient two-level design methodology is developed for the optimization of stiffened compression loaded panels having variable stiffness panels as their skin. In the first step extensive bay panel optimization is performed using a Rayleigh-Ritz energy method coupled with a specialized Genetic Algorithm. Results in agreement...

Buckling optimization of steering stiffeners for grid-stiffened composite structures

Grid-stiffened composite structures, where the skin is stiffened by a lattice of stiffeners, not only allow for significant reduction in structural weight but are also competitive in terms of structural stability and damage tolerance compared with sandwich composite structures. As the development of Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) technology...

Damage resistance of dispersed-ply laminates

This paper presents the design procedure of a quasi-isotropic (QI) laminate employing dispersion of ply orientations. The goal is to improve damage resistance of a laminate under low velocity impact (LVI). The LVI is treated as a quasi-static loading and instead of a plate a laminated beam is considered. Therefore, this situation simplifies the...