Optimal design of sandwich composite laminates for minimum cost and maximum frequency using simulated annealing

Multi objective optimal design of sandwich composite laminates consisting of highstiffness and expensive surface and low-stiffness and inexpensive core layers with respect to cost and frequency is addressed in this paper. Discrete ply angles and number of low-stiffness core layers are considered as design variables and simulated annealing algorithm is used for simultaneous cost minimization and frequency maximization. The proposed model is applied to a graphite-epoxy/glass-epoxy laminate and results are obtained for various aspect ratios and number of layers.

Keywords:

Optimal Design , Composite Laminates , Cost Reduction , Simulated Annealing