Discrete material optimization of general composite shell structures

Abstract A novel method for doing material optimization of general composite laminate shell structures is presented and its capabilities are illustrated with three examples. The method is labelled Discrete Material Optimization (DMO) but uses gradient information combined with mathematical programming to solve a discrete optimization problem. The method can be used to solve the orientation problem of orthotropic materials and the material selection problem as well as problems involving both. The method relies on ideas from multiphase topology optimization to achieve a parametrization which is very general and reduces the risk of obtaining a local optimum solution for the tested configurations. The…