Composite Structure Optimization using a Homogenized Material Approach

The increasing use of bre-reinforced composite materials in the manufacturing of high performance structures is primarily driven by their superior strength-toweight ratio when compared to traditional metallic alloys. This provides the ability to design and manufacture lighter structures with improved mechanical properties. However, the specic manufacturing process of composite structures, along with the orthotropic material properties exhibited by bre-reinforced composite materials, result in a complex structural design process where a number of dierent design parameters and manufacturing issues, which aect the mechanical properties of the composite structure, have to be considered. An ecient way to do this is to implement structural optimization techniques in the structural design process thus improving the ability of the design process to nd design solutions which satisfy the structural requirements imposed on the composite structure. This thesis describes a two phase composite structure optimization method based on a novel material homogenization approach. The proposed method consists of a stiness optimization problem and a lay-up optimization problem, respectively, with the aim to obtain a manufacturable composite structure with maximized stiness properties. The homogenization material approach is applied in both optimization problems, such that the material properties of the composite structure are homogenized. In the proposed method the stiness optimization problem provides a composite structure with maximized stiness properties by nding the optimal distribution of composite material across the design domain. The aim of the lay-up optimization problem is to obtain a manufacturable lay-up sequence of bre-reinforced composite plies for the composite structure which, as far as possible, retains the stiness properties given by the stiness optimization problem. The ability of the composite structure optimization method to obtain manufacturable composite structures is tested and conrmed by a number of numerical tests.