Efficient application of GA to design of fiber reinforced composites

In this paper, a cost effective design procedure for laminated composite structure using GA (Genetic Algorithms) is proposed. Design variables considered to enhance the rigidity of the laminated composite structure are the number of laminae, the fiber orientation and the stacking sequence. The fiber orientations are chosen among some prepared angles. In the proposed design procedure, a rigidity function is defined to determine which angle to reinforce by means of weighing coefficients and transformed elastic constants in the prepared angles. The weighing coefficients are defined to represent the distribution of principal stress in the structure. Then, the orientation of reinforcements can be found according to the weighing coefficients such that the defined rigidity function takes maximum. Futhermore, to find a global optimum solution, the weighing coefficients are adjusted. In this paper, the detail of our developed procedure and some applications are shown.