Design of experiments and optimization of composite structures using solid-shell elements

Abstract

The present study investigates the formulation and use of solid-shell finite element models which are able to model thin and thick, isotropic and multilayered composite structures using a purely 3D formulation based only on displacement dof. The second part of the paper deals with the optimization of composite structures, using a specific response surface method. This technique has been shown to be more efficient than classical gradient based methods. Several applications combining our solid-shell finite element model and the specific response surface method are shown in order to assess current procedure capabilities.