A Novel Rational Design Method for Laminated Composite Structures Exhibiting Complex Geometrically Nonlinear Buckling Behaviour

This paper presents a novel FEM-based approach for fiber angle optimal design of laminated
composite structures exhibiting complicated nonlinear buckling behavior, thus enabling design of lighter and more cost-effective structures. The approach accounts for the geometrically nonlinear behavior of the structure by utilizing path tracing response analysis up until the buckling point. The method simultaneously includes loss of stability due to bifurcation and limiting behavior and thereby avoids problems related to mode or stability type switching during optimization. The optimization formulation is formulated as a mathematical programming problem and solved using gradient-based techniques.