Optimal Stacking Sequence Design of Laminated Composite Shells

An optimization procedure is proposed for the design of cylindrical composite shell having midplane symmetry and subjected to axial force and internal pressure. Tsai-Wu failure criterion is taken as objective function while the stacking sequence represents the design variable. The optimal design formulation based on the state space method is adopted and solution procedure is described with the emphasis on the method of calculating the design sensitivities. A gradient projection algorithm is employed for the optimization process. Numerical results are presented for the several test problems.