Optimum Design for Three-Dimensional Fiber Reinforced Composite Materials

Abstract

Three-dimensional fiber reinforced composite materials produced by impregnating resin in woven fabric have superior interlaminar and impact strength, and are capable of being formed into complex shapes. They are also tailored materials, so we can obtain the required material properties by designing the 3-D fiber construction appropriately. In this report, we propose an optimum design method for 3-D composite materials. The weight and cost minimization problems constrained by failure stress and failure loads are considered. The strength analyses are performed using the stress averaging method which gives efficient calculation, and the genetic algorithm is applied in the optimization. The calculation is executed for the 5-axis woven CFRP 3-D composite, and the validity of the present design method is discussed.