ARTICLE IN PRESS

Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 46 (2010) 273–279

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Finite Elements in Analysis and Design

journal homepage: www.elsevier.de/locate/finel

Multiobjective optimization of angle-ply laminated plates for maximum

buckling load
Umut Topal , Ümit Uzman
Gümüs- hane University, Department of Civil Engineering, 29000 Gümüs- hane, Turkey

a r t i c l e in fo abstract

Article history: This paper deals with multiobjective optimization of symmetrically angle-ply square laminated plates
Received 3 November 2008 subjected to biaxial compressive and uniform thermal loads. The design objective is the maximization
Received in revised form of the buckling load for weighted sum of the biaxial compressive and thermal loads. The design variable
23 June 2009
is the fiber orientations in the layers. The performance index is formulated as the weighted sum of
Accepted 11 October 2009
Available online 31 October 2009
individual objectives in order to obtain optimal solutions of the design problem. The first-order shear
deformation theory (FSDT) is used in the mathematical formulation of buckling analysis of laminated
Keywords: plates. The modified feasible direction (MFD) method is used for optimization routine. For this purpose,
Laminated plates a program based on FORTRAN is used. Finally, the effect of different weighting factors, number of layers,
Modified feasible direction method
aspect ratios, load ratios and boundary conditions on the optimal design is investigated.
Buckling
& 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Multiobjective optimization

1. Introduction
Fiber reinforced composites are extensively used in many
modern engineering applications due to their ability to improve
structural performance. Examples include lightweight, strong and
rigid aircraft frames, composite drive shafts and suspension
components, sports equipment, pressure vessels and high-speed
flywheels with superior energy storage capabilities. A reason for
the widespread use of laminated composite materials is their
inherent tailorability, which enables them to meet specific design
objectives for a given application.
Often structures are subjected to different loads such as axial
or thermal which may cause buckling. Such loadings may occur at
different times under in-service conditions, necessitating design
approaches which are capable of taking into account these various
loading conditions. Optimal design of laminated composite plates
is necessary to realize the full potential of fiber-reinforced
materials. The overall structural performance of such plates can
be improved using the ply angles as design variables and
determining the optimal angles to maximize a multiobjective
performance index.
Various authors have tackled multiobjective optimization
problems of laminated structures by scalarizing the multiple
objective functions into a single objective using a weight factor.
Walker [1] studied multiobjective optimal design of biaxially
loaded laminated plates for a maximum weighted combination of
 Corresponding author. Tel.: + 90 462 3774017; fax: +90 462 377 2606.
E-mail address: umut@ktu.edu.tr (U. Topal).
buckling load and resonance frequency. Walker and Smith [2]
described a methodology for using genetic algorithms with the
finite element method to minimize a weighted sum of the mass
and deflection of fiber reinforced structures with several design
variables. The design constraint implemented was based on the
Tsai–Wu failure criterion. The four fiber orientations and laminae
thicknesses were considered as design variable. Results were
presented for different load distributions, and various combina-
tions of clamped, simply supported and free boundary conditions.
The effect of aspect ratio on the results was also investigated.
Pelletier and Vel [3] presented a methodology based on an
integer-coded genetic algorithm for the multiobjective optimiza-
tion of laminated composite materials. The fiber orientations and
fiber volume fractions of the laminae were chosen as the
optimization variables. The objectives of the problem were to
maximize the load carrying capacity and minimize the mass of a
laminate subjected to biaxial moments. Kumar and Tauchert [4]
investigated multiobjective design of symmetrically laminated
plates. The design objective was the maximization of weighted
sum of in-plane, bending strength and stiffness of laminated
plates. Walker et al. [5] obtained multiobjective design of a
symmetrically laminated shell with the objectives defined as the
maximization of the axial and torsional buckling loads. The ply
angles were taken as the design variable. The effect of weighting
factors on the optimal design was investigated. Adali et al. [6]
investigated optimal design of uniaxially loaded laminated plates
subject to elastic in-plane restraints along the unloaded edges for
a maximum combination of prebuckling stiffness, postbuckling
stiffness and buckling load. The ply angles were used as design
variable. The multiobjective design results were compared to

0168-874X/$ - see front matter & 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.finel.2009.10.003
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
274 U. Topal, U. Uzman / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 46 (2010) 273–279

single objective ones, and the effect of various problem para- effect of bending–twisting coupling is included for optimization
meters on the optimal designs were numerically studied. Bruch problem. Modified feasible direction (MFD) method is used for
et al. [7] studied a multiobjective optimization problem of optimization routine. For this purpose, a program based on
symmetric, cross-ply laminates by taking a performance index FORTRAN is used. Finally, the effect of different weighting factors,
which comprises a weighted sum of the design and control number of layers, aspect ratios, load ratios and boundary
objectives and a penalty functional of the control force. The design conditions on the optimal design is investigated.
variable was the laminate thickness. Fares et al. [8] presented
multiobjective design and control optimization of composite
laminated plates to minimize the postbuckling dynamic response 2. Basic equations
and maximize the buckling load. The layer thicknesses and fiber
orientations were taken as design variables. Ghasemi and Ehsani Consider a laminated composite plate of uniform thickness h,
[9] investigated optimum weight and cost of a laminated having a rectangular plan a  b as shown in Fig. 1. The individual
composite plate and Tsai–Hill theory was used as the failure layers are assumed to be homogeneous and orthotropic.
criterion. A newly developed genetic algorithm (GA) was em- The displacement field of the plate based on the FSDT is given
ployed as an optimization technique. Deka et al. [10] studied by the following expressions:
optimum design of laminated hybrid composite structures using
uðx; y; zÞ ¼ u0 ðx; yÞ þ zcx ðx; yÞ
the finite element method and the GA for single-material as well
as hybrid laminates. Weight and cost optimization of the vðx; y; zÞ ¼ v0 ðx; yÞ þ zcy ðx; yÞ
laminates subjected to Tsai–Hill criteria-based design constraint
was carried out. Fiber orientation and material in each lamina, as wðx; y; zÞ ¼ wðx; yÞ ð1Þ
well as the number of lamina in the laminate were used as design
variables. Teters [11] suggested a method for analyzing problems where u0 and v0 are the displacements of u and v on the mid-
on the compromise optimization of stability of composite plates plane, respectively. Because the vertical line to the mid-plane of
under thermal actions. By using a numerical mathematical the laminates is not necessarily perpendicular to the deformed
simulation, the domain of allowable solutions and the Pareto mid-plane, the terms cx and cy are independent of @w=@x and
compromise domain were determined, and a compromise solu- @w=@y.
tion was selected. Fares et al. [12] presented design and control The displacement–strain relations, taking Eq. (1) into account
optimization to minimize the thermal postbuckling dynamic are
response and to maximize the buckling temperature level of    
 @u0   @cx 
   
composite laminated plates subjected to thermal distribution 8 9    @x   
e  @x       @w  c 
varying linearly through the thickness and arbitrarily with respect >
< x > =    c     @y
@v   @  g y
to the in-plane coordinates. The thickness of layers and the ey ¼  0
  z
y
;  yz  ¼ 
  g   @w

 ð2Þ
@y  @y
fibers orientation angles were taken as optimization design
>
:g > ;     xz   c 
xy  @u0 @v0   @c   x 
 þ   x @cy  @x
variables. Costa et al. [13] described an application of a genetic  @y @x   þ 
 @y @x 
algorithm to a material and sizing optimization problem of a plate.
Adali [14] optimized an antisymmetrically laminated angle-ply The constitutive relations for a laminated plate accounting for
plate with the objectives of minimizing the maximum dynamic thermal effects can be written as
deflection, maximizing the natural frequencies and/or maximizing 0 1 0 1 0 1
the buckling load. The design variables were the fiber orie- sx Q 11 Q 12 Q 16 ex  ax D T
Bs C B C B C
ntation and the thickness of individual layers and were computed @ y A ¼ @ Q 12 Q 22 Q 26 A @ ey  ay DT A ð3Þ
by using the methods of nonlinear programming. Saravanos and sxy Q 16 Q 26 Q 66 exy  a xy DT
ðkÞ ðkÞ
Chamis [15] developed a multiobjective optimal design metho-
dology for lightweight, low-cost composite structures of improved ! ! !
tyz Q 44 Q 45 gyz
dynamic performance. The design objectives were minimization ¼ ð4Þ
txz Q 45 Q 55 gxz
of damped resonance amplitudes, weight, and material cost. ðkÞ ðkÞ
Le Riche et al. [16] considered the design of dimensionally
where Q ij is the transformed reduced stiffnesses, which can be
stable composite laminates as a multiobjective optimization
expressed in terms of the orientation angle and the engineering
problem. In-plane design of composite plates for low thermal
constant of the material. ax , ay , axy are the coefficients of thermal
and moisture expansion was performed in conjunction with high
expansion and DT is the uniform constant temperature difference.
stiffness. Optimal plates were obtained using an evolutionary
search based on single objective search or multiobjective
2 1
algorithms. y
On the other hand, multiobjective buckling load optimization z y θ
of laminated plates subjected to biaxial compressive and thermal
loads has not been investigated by authors until now. We
investigated buckling load designs of laminated plates for biaxial
compressive loads and thermal loads for single-objective optimi-
x
zations in Refs. [17,18]. In this study, we combined two different
problems as the weighted sum of individual objectives in order to z
obtain multiobjective optimization solutions to fill this gap. The b
design objective is the maximization of the buckling load and the
design variable is the fiber orientations in the layers. The first- h/2 x
order shear deformation theory is used in the mathematical x h/2
formulation. The bending–twisting coupling may cause signifi-
a
cantly different results for laminates with few layers as compared
to cases in which this coupling is exactly zero. In this study, the Fig. 1. Geometry of a laminated plate.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
U. Topal, U. Uzman / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 46 (2010) 273–279 275

The stress resultants fNg, stress couples fMg and transverse The critical temperature buckling load, Tcr , can be calculated using
shear stress resultants fQ g are
Tcr ¼ lDT ð12Þ
8 9 8 9 8 9
> N
< x > = Z h=2 >
s =
< x> > M
< x > = The subspace iteration method is used to solve the eigenvalue
Ny ¼ sy dz; My problem. In the all computations, the following nondimensionalized
>
:N > ; h=2 >
:t > ; >
:M > ;
xy xy xy quantities are used:
8 9
Z h=2 > s =
< x>
( ) Z ( ) Ncr Tcr
Qx h=2 txz N ¼ ; T ¼ ð13Þ
sy z dz; N0 Tcr0
¼
h=2 >
:t > ; Qy
¼
h=2 tyz dz ð5Þ
xy for critical compressive and thermal buckling loads, respectively.
The N0 and Tcr0 are the critical compressive and thermal
The total potential energy, p of the plates is buckling loads corresponding to prescribed lamination angles
ð03 =03 = . . . =03 Þsym for laminated plates, respectively.
p ¼ Ub þ Us þ V ð6Þ
where Ub is the strain energy of bending, Us is the strain energy of
shear and V is the potential energy due to external loads. 3. Modified feasible direction method

The MFD method is one of the most powerful methods for

2.1. Finite element formulation optimization problems. This method takes into account not only
the gradients of objective function and constraints, but also the
In this study, four noded Lagrangian rectangular plate search direction in the former iteration. In this study, there is not
elements having five degrees of freedom per node are used any constraint.
for the finite element solution of the laminated plates. Fig. 2 shows the iterative process within each optimization
The interpolation function of the displacement field is de- process [19,20].
fined as The objective function FðXi Þ is accurately modelled as a quadratic
0 1 polynomial approximation around the current iterate Xi as
u
B v C nd
X nd
X
B C X
B C n FðXi Þ ¼ a0 þ ai Xi þ bi Xi2 ð14Þ
B w C¼ F i di ð7Þ
B C i¼1 i¼1
Bc C i¼1
@ xA
where nd and Xi are number of design variables and ith design
cy
variable, respectively. ai and bi are the coefficients of polynomial
function determined by a least squares regression. After the
where di and Fi are the nodal variables and the interpolation
objective function is approximated, their gradients with respect to
function, respectively. The stiffness matrix of the plate is obtained
the design variables are calculated by finite differences methods.
by using the minimum potential energy principle. Bending
The solving process is iterated until convergence is achieved.
stiffness [Kb], shear stiffness [Ks] and geometric stiffness [Kg] can
Convergence or termination checks are performed at the end of
be calculated as
Z each optimization loop. The optimization process continues until
either convergence or termination occurs. The process may be
½Kb  ¼ ½Bb T ½Db ½Bb  dA
terminated before convergence in two cases:
ZA
½Ks  ¼ ½Bs T ½Ds ½Bs  dA
ZA  The number of design sets so far exceeds the maximum
½Kg  ¼ ½Bg T ½Dg ½Bg  dA ð8Þ number of optimization loops.
A  If the initial design is infeasible and the allowed number of
consecutive infeasible designs has been exceeded.
where
" # " # " # The optimization problem is terminated if all of the following
Aij 0 k21 A44 A45 N1 N 12
½Db  ¼ ; ½Ds  ¼ ; ½Dg  ¼ conditions are satisfied:
0 Dij A45 k22 A55 N 12 N2
ð9Þ  The current design is feasible.
Aij and Dij can be calculated as follows:  Changes in the objective function F:
Z h=2
ðAij ; Dij Þ ¼ Q ij ð1; z2 Þ dz ði; j ¼ 1; 2; 6Þ MFD
h=2 1. q = 0, Xq = Xm
Z h=2
2. q = q+1
Aij ¼ Q ij dz ði; j ¼ 4; 5Þ ð10Þ Evaluate objective function F(Xq−1)
h=2
3. Calculate gradient of the objective function ∇ F(Xq−1)
In Eq. (9), k21 and k22 are the shear correction factors and, in this
study the shear correction factor is assumed 56. 4. Find the usable-feasible direction Sq
Following the standard procedure of the finite element 5. Perform a one-dimensional search
formulation, the stability condition is obtained as Xq = Xq−1+ α Sq
½K0 þ lKg dd ¼ 0 ð11Þ 6. Check convergence. If satisfied, go to 7. Otherwise go to 2
in which K0 and Kg are the assembled linear stiffness and geometric 7. Xm = Xq
stiffness matrices, respectively. The lowest eigenvalue of the
homogeneous system (11) yields the critical buckling load ðNcr Þ. Fig. 2. Flow chart of modified feasible direction method.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
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(a) The difference between the current value and the best E2 ¼ 5:5 GPa;
design so far is less than the tolerance tF : G12 ¼ G13 ¼ 2:30 GPa;
jFcurrent  Fbest j r tF G23 ¼ 1:5 GPan12 ¼ 0:34;
a1 ¼  4  106 3 C1 ;
(b) The difference between the current value and the previous
design is less than the tolerance: a2 ¼ 79  106 3 C1
jFcurrent  Fcurrent1 j r tF ðMaterial 2Þ E1 ¼ 181 GPa;
 Changes in the design variables X i : E2 ¼ 10:3 GPa;
(a) The difference between the current value of each design G12 ¼ G13 ¼ 7:17 GPa;
variable and the best design so far is less than the G23 ¼ 2:39 GPan12 ¼ 0:28;
respective tolerance ti : a1 ¼ 0:02  106 3 C1 ;
i
jXcurrent i
 Xbest j r ti a2 ¼ 22:5  106 3 C1
(b) The difference between the current value of each design
variable and the previous design is less than the respective
tolerance:
Example 1. A single thin (b/h =40) clamped laminated square
i i
jXcurrent  Xcurrent1 j r tF plate for Material 1 with fiber orientation angle 451 is considered
to compare the present study with literature results. As seen from
Table 2, the results obtained for critical buckling temperature are
We resolved the optimization process to obtain global max-
in very close agreement with literature results [22,23].
imum from different initial points to check if other solutions are
possible. The converge tolerance ratio is considered 0.01 for
objective function. Example 2. The next example is comprised of the same plate
geometry and the same boundary conditions, with four layered
ð03 =903 =03 =903 Þ lamination sequence for Material 2 (b/h =20). The
4. Optimization problem results are obtained for ten modes (Fig. 3). It can be seen that, the
present study is very good agreement with the results of Ref. [23].
The present study is concerned with the multiobjective
optimization of laminated plates by determining the Pareto
optimal value of the design variable y. The objectives of the Table 1
Convergence study of the present study for critical compressive buckling load.
optimization problem involve the maximization of the critical
buckling loads Ncr and Tcr for a given laminate by optimally l=0 l=1
determining the fiber orientation. The multiobjective design
index, MODI, can be described as follows: (0/90/0) Present study 23.425 11.714
Ref. [21] 23.363 11.682
 
MODI ¼ ZN þ xT ð15Þ (  45/45) Present study 16.722 8.361
Ref. [21] 17.584 7.717
where Z and x are the weighting factors summing the two
objective functions with Z; x Z0; Z þ x ¼ 1. As the weighting
factors are varied, the emphasis of the optimization problem is
shifted among various objectives resulting in compromise solu-
tions. The single objective designs can be obtained as special cases Table 2
by setting Z ¼ 1 or 0. In this study, the optimization problem can Convergence study of the present study for a clamped square laminated plate with
be expressed as follows: literature results for Material 1.

find : y; 03 r yk r903 maximize : MODI ð16Þ Critical temperature Ref. [22] Ref. [23] Present study

3
Tcr ð CÞ 129.91 131.55 130.04

5. Numerical results and discussion

5.1. Convergence of the present study

0.35
To validate the present study, firstly the obtained uniaxial and
Thermal critical temperature

0.3
biaxial critical compressive buckling loads are compared with the
literature results for cross-ply and angle-ply laminates (b/h =100). 0.25
The critical buckling loads are normalized as Material 2
0.2
2 3
N cr ¼ Ncr ðb =E2 h Þ ð17Þ
0.15
The material properties of the lamina are as follows:
0.1
E1 =E2 ¼ 25; G12 =E2 ¼ 0:5; G13 =E2 ¼ 0:5; G23 =E2 ¼ 0:2; n12 ¼ 0:25
0.05
It can be observed from Table 1 that the present results are in
good agreement with the literature results for critical compressive 0
buckling load. Secondly, the obtained critical buckling 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
temperatures are compared with the literature results. The Mode Number
material properties of the lamina are as follows:
Fig. 3. Thermal critical temperature for a clamped laminated composite plate (b/
ðMaterial 1Þ E1 ¼ 76 GPa; h=20) for mode numbers for Material 2.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
U. Topal, U. Uzman / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 46 (2010) 273–279 277

5.2. Optimization results
In this study, simply supported symmetrically angle-ply
laminated plates are investigated for optimization problems. Each
of the lamina is assumed to be same thickness. The fiber
orientations are given for number of layers as follows:
yk ¼ ð1Þk þ 1 y for k r N=2
and yk ¼ ð1Þk y for kZ N=2 þ 1; k ¼ 1; . . . ; N
where N is the number of layers. Numerical results are given for a
typical T300/5208 graphite/epoxy material and the material
properties are as
E1 ¼ 181 GPa;
E2 ¼ 10:3 GPa;
G12 ¼ G13 ¼ 7:17 GPa;
G23 ¼ 2:39 GPan12 ¼ 0:28;
a1 ¼ 0:02  106 3 C1 ;
a2 ¼ 22:5  106 3 C1
5.2.1. Effect of the weighting factors on the optimum design
In this study, the effect of different weighting factors on the
optimal designs is investigated for Z ¼ 0:25, 0.50 and 0.75 for
square laminated plates (N=4, b/h =100). It is assumed that the
laminated plate is subjected to biaxial compressive and uniform
thermal loads. It is clear that the maximum multiobjective design
Z ¼ 0:25 for square laminated plates. This means that, the effect of
thermal load is more dominant than biaxial compressive load on
the multiobjective buckling load design.
5.2.2. Effect of number of layers on the optimum design
In this study, the effect of number of layers (N) on the optimum
results is investigated for square laminated plates (b/h= 100,
Z = 0.25). As seen from Fig. 5, as the number of layer increases,
ð18Þ
the ðMODIÞmax increases. The ðMODIÞmax occurs at yopt ¼ 453 for all
number of layers. It is noted that the effect of bending–twisting
coupling is reduced as D16 ; D26 -0 for N Z 8 and its effect
becomes negligible on the performance index. Therefore, for
laminates with N Z8, the ðMODIÞmax does not have an appreciable
change and it reaches a limiting value. It is also found that, there is
not any effect of bending–twisting coupling on the optimum fiber
orientations.
5.2.3. Effect of aspect ratios on the optimum design
Fig. 6 and Table 3 present the effect of aspect ratio (a/b) on the
optimum results for laminated plates ranging in size from a/b= 1
to 3 with Z ¼ 0:25 (N=4, b/h=100). It may be noticed from Fig. 4
1.8
1.7
(MODI)max

index ðMODIÞmax , occurs at a specific value of the fiber orientation

(or optimum fiber angle) and this value can be several times
higher than the other MODI at other fiber orientations. As seen
1.6
from Fig. 4, the ðMODIÞmax occurs at yopt ¼ 453 for all weighting
factors and it is obtained 1.68, 1.59 and 1.49 for Z ¼ 0:25, 0.50
and 0.75, respectively. As seen, the largest ðMODIÞmax occurs at
1.5
1 1.5 2 2.5 3
a/b
1.8
Fig. 6. Effect of aspect ratio on the maximum performance index.
1.6

1.4
MODI

1.2 Table 3
Effect of a/b ratios on the optimum fiber orientations.
1 η = 0.25
η = 0.50 a/b yopt (deg) ðMODIÞmax
0.8 η = 0.75
1.0 45.0 1.68
0.6 1.5 59.7 1.60
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 2.0 63.1 1.54
θ 2.5 59.8 1.54
3.0 61.6 1.53
Fig. 4. Performance index vs. fiber orientation for different weighting factors.

2.5

1.8

2 1.6
(MODI)max

1.4
MODI

1.5 1.2 λ=0.25

λ=0.5
1
λ=0.75
0.8 λ=1
1 λ=1.25
4 6 8 10 0.6
N 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Fig. 5. Effect of number of layers on the maximum performance index. Fig. 7. Performance index vs. fiber orientation for load ratios.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
278 U. Topal, U. Uzman / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 46 (2010) 273–279

2 3. Two edges clamped and two edges free (CFCF):

a a
At x¼  ; ; u ¼ w ¼ cy ¼ cx ¼ 0
2 2
1.5

The effect of the boundary conditions on the optimum design is

MODI

1 shown in Fig. 8 and Table 4 for four layered square plates

(SSSS) (b/h= 100, Z = 0.25). As known before, (CCCC) and (CFCF) boundary
0.5 (CSCS) conditions have the highest and lowest buckling loads under
(CCCC) biaxial compressive loads, respectively. On the other hand, for
CFCF only uniform thermal loads, (CCCC) and (CFCF) boundary
0 conditions have the lowest and highest buckling loads,
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 respectively. As seen from Fig. 8 and Table 4, (SSSS) and (CSCS)
θ boundary conditions have the highest and lowest buckling loads,
respectively, for multiobjective buckling load design. This can be
Fig. 8. Performance index vs. fiber orientation for boundary conditions.
expressed with the interaction of optimization results between
biaxial compressive buckling load and thermal loads.
Table 4
Effect of boundary conditions on the optimum design.

Boundary conditions yopt (deg) ðMODIÞmax 6. Conclusions

SSSS 45.0
CCCC 35.3
CSCS 35.2
CFCF 37.5
that, the performance index generally decreases as a/b ratio
increases. The reason for this is that increase in the a/b ratio
trends to decrease the stiffness of laminated plates and thus
decreases the performance index.
5.2.4. Effect of load ratios on the optimum design
In this study the effect of load ratio, l, on the optimum
results is investigated. Let Nx ¼ N and Ny ¼ lN, where l is the
proportionality constant. The numerical results are conducted
for l ¼ 0:25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.25 for four layered square plates
(b/h =100, Z =0.25). The ðMODIÞmax is obtained 1.65, 1.65, 1.67,
1.68 and 1.70 for l ¼ 0:25, 0.5, 0.75, 1 and 1.25, respectively.
As seen from Fig. 7, for l o 0:75, the ðMODIÞmax is unchanged
but after that, as load ratio increases, the maximum performance
index increases. The optimum fiber orientations are obtained
yopt ¼ 453 regardless of the load ratio. One can mention that
the load ratio has not any effect on the optimum fiber
orientations.
1.68 A multiobjective design is carried out for symmetrically angle-
1.60
1.12
ply laminated plates under biaxial compressive buckling and
1.16 uniform thermal loads. The design objective is the maximization
of the buckling load for weighted sum of the nondimensionalized
weighted loads. The design variable is the fiber orientations in the
layers. MFD method is used as an optimization routine. Results are
presented for different weighting factors, number of layers, aspect
ratios, load ratios and boundary conditions. As seen from the
results that, the effect of thermal load is more dominant than
biaxial compressive load on the multiobjective buckling load
design. As plate aspect ratio increases, the maximum performance
index generally decreases. The effect of bending–twisting cou-
pling on the maximum performance index decreases with an
increase in the number of layers but bending–twisting coupling
has not any effect on the optimum fiber orientations. For l o 0:75,
the maximum performance index is constant, but it increases for
larger load ratios. On the other hand, the optimum fiber
orientation is not influenced by the load ratio. (SSSS) and (CSCS)
boundary conditions have the highest and lowest buckling loads,
respectively, due to the interaction of optimization results
between biaxial compressive and thermal loads. It is also noticed
that, the boundary conditions substantially affect the maximum
performance index. Finally, it can be said from the results that, the
multiobjective optimization can change the behavior of the
laminates substantially. Therefore, all effects must be considered
at the optimization stage of the laminates.

5.2.5. Effect of boundary conditions on the optimum design

The optimization problem may be applied to laminated plates References
with any combinations of simple support (S), clamped support (C),
and free edge (F). A wide range of boundary conditions can be [1] M. Walker, Multiobjective design of laminated plates for maximum stability
accommodated, but only three different combinations of the using the finite element method, Composite Structures 54 (2001) 389–393.
boundary conditions are chosen as defined below. [2] M. Walker, R.E. Smith, A technique for the multiobjective optimisation of
laminated composite structures using genetic algorithms and finite element
analysis, Composite Structures 62 (2003) 123–128.
1. Two edges simply supported and two edges clamped (CSCS): [3] J.L. Pelletier, S.S. Vel, Multi-objective optimization of fiber reinforced
composite laminates for strength, stiffness and minimal mass, Computers
a a and Structures 84 (2006) 2065–2080.
At ; ; u ¼ w ¼ cy ¼ cx ¼ 0
x¼  [4] N. Kumar, T.R. Tauchert, Multiobjective design of symmetrically laminated
2 2
plates, Journal of Mechanical Design 114 (4) (1992) 620–625.
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