Application of a topology optimization scheme to FRP composite laminated structures

Abstract

In this study, topology optimization techniques were numerically applied to eigen-frequency structural optimization problems of composite laminated structures with damping layers inserted into the lamina interfaces. General-purpose finite element analysis code, MSC Nastran, and its pre-post processor, Patran, were used in the present study, in which the density method (SIMP method), one of the numerical approaches in the structural optimization discipline, was employed for seeking the most efficient internal structural forms of the present damping layers for eigen-frequency maximization under certain fixed weight reduction constrains. From the results of the present study, certain optimal inner structures or morphologies could be found out for each set of structural and material configurations for each vibration mode, which makes engineers and researchers of the composite material field have a future prospect of the present attempts.