Thermal buckling load optimization of laminated general quadrilateral and trapezoidal thin plates

Abstract This paper deals with thermal buckling load optimization of symmetrically laminated angle-ply general quadrilateral and trapezoidal thin plates. The objective function is to maximize the critical temperature capacity of the quadrilateral and trapezoidal laminated plates and the fiber orientation is considered as a design variable. The mathematical formulation is based on the classical laminated plate theory for the frequency analysis. The modified feasible direction method is used as the optimization routine. Therefore, a program based on FORTRAN is used. Finally, the significant effects of aspect ratios, boundary conditions, taper ratios and unsymmetric trapezoidal plates on the optimal results are investigated and the results are compared.