Investigation and multi-scale optimization design of woven composite cut-out structures

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mechanical properties’ behaviors of woven composite cut-out structures with specific parameters. Because of the complexity of micro-scale and meso-scale structure, it is difficult to accurately predict the mechanical material behavior of woven composites. Numerical simulations are increasingly necessary for the design and optimization of test procedures for composite structures made by the woven composite. The results of the proposed method are well satisfied with the results obtained from the experiment and other studies. Moreover, parametric studies on different plates based on the stacking sequences are investigated.

Design/methodology/approach

A multi-scale modeling approach is suggested. Back-propagation neural networks (BPNN), radial basis function (RBF) and least square support vector regression are integrated with efficient global optimization (EGO) to reduce the weight of assigned structure. Optimization results are verified by finite element analysis.

Findings

Compared with other similar studies, the advantage of the suggested strategy uses homogenized properties behaviors with more complex analysis of woven composite structures. According to investigation results, it can be found that 450/−450 ply-orientation is the best buckling load value for all the cut-out shape requirements. According to the optimal results, the BPNN-EGO is the best candidate for the EGO to optimize the woven composite structures.

Originality/value

A multi-scale approach is used to investigate the mechanical properties of a complex woven composite material architecture. Buckling of different cut-out shapes with the same area is surveyed. According to investigation, 45°/−45° ply-orientation is the best for all cut-out shapes. Different surrogate models are integrated in EGO for optimization. The BPNN surrogate model is the best choice for EGO to optimization difficult problems of woven composite materials.

Citation

Nguyen, D.H., Wang, H., Ye, F. and Hu, W. (2021), "Investigation and multi-scale optimization design of woven composite cut-out structures", Engineering Computations, Vol. 38 No. 3, pp. 1134-1156. https://doi.org/10.1108/EC-08-2019-0361