Abstract
In this study, the response surface method is applied to the reliability-based optimum design of a laminated composite plate subject to in-plane loads in order to improve the calculation efficiency. The reliability is approximated by polynomials in terms of the lamination. Where the authors have already clarified that the reliability is distributed smoothly in the lamination parameter space for the symmetric balanced laminate consisting of 0°, ±45° and 90° plies. Using the response surface method, the reliability-based optimization problem is transformed from a duplicated-loop iteration problem into a single-loop iteration problem. In constructing the response surfaces, several experimental points are selected based on the D-optimality criterion using genetic algorithms. The efficiency of the response surface approximation on the reliability-based optimization is demonstrated through the two dual problems; the reliability-maximized design of the constant-thickness plate and the thickness-minimized design under the reliability constraint.
