Multi-material topology design of laminates with strength criteria

The objective of this paper is to present a novel approach for multi-material topology optimization of laminated composite structures where strength constraints are taken into account together with other global structural performance measures. The topology design problem considered contains very many design variables, and when strength criteria are included in the problem, a very large number of criteria functions must be considered in the optimization problem to be solved. Thus, block aggregation methods are introduced, such that global strength measures are obtained. These formulations are illustrated for multi-material laminated design problems where the maximum failure index is minimized while compliance and mass constraints are taken into account.