Optimum Design of Filament-Wound Laminated Conical Shells for Buckling Using the Penalty Function

Optimum laminate configuration [or minimum weight oj filament-wound laminated conical shells subject to buckling load constraint is investigated. In the case oj a laminated conical shell, the thickness and the ply orientation (the design variables) are junctions oj the shell coordinates, influencing both the buckling load and its weight. These effects complicate the optimization problem considerably. The first level oj complexity is attributed to the correlation between the volume and the buckling load and their dependence on the fiber configuration. The second level oj complexity is associated with the high computational cost involved in calculation oj the buckling load. Thus, the main objective oj this study is to solve the optimization problem as well as to reduce the computational cost associated with it. Based on the characteristic buckling behavior oj laminated conical shells, the usual penalty junction method is used.