Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, N13 W8 Sapporo, 060–8628, Japan.
The primary purpose of this paper is to clarify the range of applicability of an iterative layerwise optimization (LO) approach to the frequency design problem of laminated composite plates. The design problem is formulated wherein the object function is a fundamental frequency to be maximized and design variables are the fiber orientation angles in all the layers. The LO approach and the vibration analysis method are briefly explained, and in numerical examples the optimum solutions are determined for cases where many layers, large aspect ratios and different degree of material orthotropy are considered. Besides these comprehensive sets of results, the global solution numerically determined for two specific cases is used to corroborate the accuracy of the LO solutions.
Optimum design, Laminated plate, Composite, Natural frequency
