Abstract
The fiber reinforced plastics (FRP) have been utilized in applications of automobile and aircraft structures, since they have advantages of high specific strength and stiffness ratios. The FRP composites are typically fabricated by stacking orthotropic layers, each composed of reinforcing parallel fibers and matrix material. In this work, the optimum lamination parameters are determined by the mathematical programming, and the corresponding fiber orientation angles are derived by minimizing the error of the optimized parameters and possible sets of discrete fiber orientation angles. Numerical examples show various applications of optimization in vibration behaviors of laminated plates, including the maximum fundamental frequencies with corresponding optimum lay-ups (fiber orientation angles) and the maximum difference of the fundamental and second natural frequencies.
