STACKiNG SEQUENCE OPTiMiZATiON OF COMPOSiTE BEAMS WiTH DiFFERENT LAYER THiCKNESSES

Abstract

In this study, stacking sequence optimization of composite beams with different layer thicknesses is investigated for various boundary conditions. A unified shear deformation theory is used for analytical solution. The optimization process is carried out in order to obtain the minimum deflection parameters for Clamped-Free (C-F), Clamped-Clamped (C-C) and simply supported (S-S) boundary conditions under a uniform distributed load by use of genetic algorithm for a specific number of population and generation. Finally, among all possible combinations of layer thicknesses, the one giving the minimum deflection parameter and corresponding stacking sequence is chosen. The minimum values and corresponding stacking sequences are presented for different boundary conditions.