Dispersed-ply design and optimization to improve the brittle flexural behaviour of composite laminates

Journal article (2023)

Authors

P. Mouri Sardar Abadi IMDEA Materials Institute, Student
Abrar H. Baluch Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad, IMDEA Materials Institute
T. A. Sebaey COINS Research Group, Prince Sultan University
D.M.J. Peeters Aerospace Structures & Computational Mechanics - Aerospace Engineering
M. Barzegar University of Girona, IMDEA Materials Institute
C. S. Lopes Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, IMDEA Materials Institute
Research Group
Aerospace Structures & Computational Mechanics (Aerospace Engineering) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2023 P. Mouri Sardar Abadi, Abrar H. Baluch, T. A. Sebaey, D.M.J. Peeters, M. Barzegar, C. S. Lopes
DOI
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2022.107277
Optimization Ant colony algorithm Flexural behaviour Dispersed-ply laminates
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Published Date

2023

Language

English

Faculty

Aerospace Engineering

Department

Aerospace Structures & Materials

Research Group

Aerospace Structures & Computational Mechanics

Abstract

This work aims to improve the flexural behaviour of unidirectional fibre-reinforced laminates by means of coupling an optimization procedure for quasi-isotropic configurations with the design space opened by dispersed-ply orientations. The design approach consists of finding suitable alternatives to traditional laminates (with fibre orientations limited to 0°, ±45∘, and 90°), while maintaining their stiffness characteristics. This strategy isolates the interlaminar response as the objective function that is optimized to improve their flexural behaviour. To this end, a modified Ant Colony Optimization was implemented and geared towards optimizing the interlaminar stress profile, allowing plies at every possible 5° orientation, with the ultimate goal of delaying delamination. To validate the approach, a traditional reference laminate and derived fully dispersed designs were experimentally tested. The correlated responses show that it was not possible to improve flexural resistance. However, the typical flexural brittleness of laminates can be modified into a pseudo-ductile behaviour.