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Method of designing a composite laminate

  • US 20100121625A1
  • Filed: 11/13/2009
  • Published: 05/13/2010
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2008
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method of designing a composite laminate, the laminate comprising a plurality of zones, each zone comprising a plurality of plies of composite material, each ply in each zone having a respective ply orientation angle, the method comprising:

  • a. determining a global stacking sequence for the laminate, the global stacking sequence comprising a sequence of stacking sequence elements each defining a respective global ply orientation angle, the percentages of the various ply orientations within the global stacking sequence defining a laminate constitution;

    b. determining a local laminate thickness for each zone; and

    c. determining a local stacking sequence for each zone by extracting a subsequence of stacking sequence elements from the global stacking sequence,wherein the global stacking sequence, the laminate constitution and the local laminate thicknesses are determined together in an optimisation process in which multiple sub-ply selection variables are assigned to each stacking sequence element, each sub-ply selection variable representing the density or sub-ply thickness for a respective candidate ply orientation angle;

    optimal values are determined for the sub-ply selection variables and the local laminate thicknesses; and

    a single one of the sub-ply selection variables is assigned to each stacking sequence element thereby forcing a discrete choice of global ply orientation angle for each stacking sequence element.

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