Optimising the ply dropping order in variabel stiffness, variable thickness laminates using stacking sequence tables

Modern composite structures o<br/>er two avenues of optimising performance. One, optimising a single stacking sequence over the structure leading to constant sti<br/>ness designs. Two, varying the sti<br/>ness over the structure. This may be achieved by dropping plies, changing the thickness, or by steering the fibres, changing the fibre angles....

Effect of Steering Limit Constraints on the Performance of Variable Stiffness Laminates

A method to optimise the fibre angle distribution of variable stiffness laminates is proposed. The proposed method integrates a fibre angle retrieval step with a fibre angle optimisation procedure. A multi-level approximation approach is used in combination with the method of successive approximations. First, fibre angle retrieval is done by...