The stacking sequence optimization of stiffened laminated curved panels with different loading and stiffener spacing

An efficient procedure to obtain the optimal stacking sequence and the minimum weight of stiffened laminated composite curved panels under several loading conditions and stiffener layouts has been developed based on the finite element method and the genetic algorithm that is powerful for the problem with integer variables. Often, designing composite laminates ends up with a stacking sequence optimization that may be formulated as an integer programming problem. This procedure is applied for a problem to find the stacking sequence having a maximum critical buckling load factor and the minimum weight. The object function in this case is the weight of a stiffened laminated composite shell. Three different types of stiffener layouts with different loading conditions are investigated to see how these parameters influence on the stacking sequence optimization of the panel and the stiffeners. It is noticed from the results that the optimal stacking sequence and lay-up angles vary depending on the types of loading and stiffener spacing.