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Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247

www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruct

Post-buckling optimisation of composite stiened panels


using neural networks
C. Bisagni *, L. Lanzi
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via La Masa 34, 20158 Milan, Italy

Abstract
This paper deals with the denition of a post-buckling optimisation procedure for the design of composite stiened panels
subjected to compression loads. The optimised structures are then characterised by a local skin buckling between the stieners and
by a high ratio between the collapse load and the buckling load. To overcome too expensive analyses from a computational point of
view, an optimisation procedure is developed. It is based on a global approximation strategy, where the structure response is given
by a system of neural networks trained by means of nite element analyses, and on genetic algorithms, that results particularly
protable due to the presence of integer variables. The optimisation procedure reduces considerably the computational costs, oers a
complete separation between the system modelling and the optimisation problem and shows that a local skin buckling between the
stieners allows a weight reduction equal to 18%.
2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Post-buckling; Composite stiened panels; Neural networks; Genetic algorithms

1. Introduction tests and numerical/analytical methods is required [14],


due to the lack of design procedures. In any case, the
Stiened panels are a structural typology extensively design of stiened composite panels, able to overcome
used in the aerospace eld mainly for their high e- the buckling load and to work in the post-buckling eld,
ciency: aircraft fuselages, helicopter tails, wing skin and represents one of the major challenges for the aircraft
rocket structures are but a few examples. industries. Indeed, experimental studies [5] on the du-
A deep knowledge of the aluminium alloy behaviour rability of composite stiened panels under repeated
and the development of accurate analysis models allows, buckling shear and compression loads, showed that
nowadays, the building of aluminium alloy stiened stiened panels in composite materials, if well designed,
panels able to work in the post-buckling eld during are less fatigue sensitive than the metal ones.
their life; i.e. with a local skin buckling between the The optimisation of stiened composite panels sub-
stieners, in that way reducing signicantly the weight jected to buckling and strength constraints was dealt
of the structures. with several studies. A minimum weight design was
The use of stiened panels made by composite ma- performed by Butler and Williams [6] using VICON-
terials, which oer considerable high strength-to-weight OPT, a program for buckling and strength analyses
and stiness-to-weight ratios, can bring a further sub- based on the direct solutions of the governing equations
stantial reduction in structural weight. However, until assuming a deformation that varies sinusoidally. An-
recently the use of composite materials appears largely other minimum weight optimisation, including buckling
limited to panels and to sandwiches structures designed load constraints, was proposed by Wiggenraad et al. [7]
to work only in the pre-buckling eld, due to the com- using PANOPT, a computational program based on
plexity of the buckling phenomenon. For such kinds of Riks derivation for nite strip analyses. Damage tol-
structures a complex interaction between experimental erance and soft-skin concepts were introduced to limit
the ply thickness and geometry.
* However, the possible presence of integer variables, as
Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-02-2399-8390; fax: +39-02-2399-
8334.
the number and the orientation of the layers, makes the
E-mail addresses: chiara.bisagni@polimi.it (C. Bisagni), lanzi@ use of the genetic algorithms (GA) particularly prot-
aero.polimi.it (L. Lanzi). able in optimisation involving composite structures
0263-8223/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 2 6 3 - 8 2 2 3 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 5 3 - 3
238 C. Bisagni, L. Lanzi / Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247

[8,9]. Negendra et al. [10] proposed a minimum weight Table 1


optimisation of composite stiened shells based on an Material properties of the CFRP ply
improved GA and a nite strip method implemented in Youngs modulus E11 (N/mm2 ) 58615
the PASCO program to evaluate both buckling load and Youngs modulus E22 (N/mm2 ) 58615
Shear modulus G12 (N/mm2 ) 3064
strain constraints. More recently, Kaletta and Wolf [11] Poissons ratio m12 0.048
applied a parallel computing GA, considering buckling Density q (kg/m3 ) 1510
and maximum strength constraints, to stiened com- Ply thickness t (mm) 0.33
posite plate panels. The tness evaluation was per- Tensile strength r11 r22 (N/mm2 ) 440
formed using directly eigenvalue nite element analyses. Compression strength r11 r22 (N/mm2 ) 468
Shear strength r12 (N/mm2 ) 99
Lillico et al. [12] considered constraints on the buckling
load and also on the post-buckling maximum strength
during a minimum weight optimisation involving alu- and height of 700 mm. The stieners are L-shaped with
minium alloy stiened panels using VICONOPT. The equal sides and their corners are rounded with a mean
results obtained by VICONOPT were then veried using radius of 4 mm for construction reasons. They are cured
ABAQUS. on the internal side of the skin and they are as long as
The objective of this work is the denition of a fast the panel and equally spaced. The minimum and maxi-
optimisation procedure for the design of stiened com- mum distances between the blades of two contiguous
posite panels able to work in the post-buckling eld. The stieners varies from 134 to 342 mm. To avoid local
optimised structures are then characterised by a local buckling along the free lateral edges, the rst and the
skin buckling between the stieners and by a high ratio last stieners are placed in correspondence of the lateral
between the collapse load and the buckling load. The edges.
need to consider the post-buckling eld directly in In many practical problems, the orientation angles in
the optimisation procedure and in the denition of the the lay-up are limited to a small range of possibilities:
constraints suggests the use of non-linear nite element 0, 90 and 45, where 0 is assumed as the direction
analyses. Unfortunately, the denition of an optimisa- parallel to the stieners. The lay-up of the panel skin
tion procedure using directly genetic algorithm and non- consists of an upper exterior layer and a lower exterior
linear nite element analyses results too expensive from layer, both oriented at 0, and of internal layers whose
a computational point of view. To overcome these dif- number changes from 1 to 4. The following lay-up se-
culties an optimisation procedure based on a global quences are considered for the internal layers: [45]; [45/
approximation strategy is developed, where the struc- 45]; [45/)45/45]; [45/)45/)45/45]. Instead, the
ture response is approximated by a system of neural lay-up of the stieners consists of a variable number of
networks trained by means of non-linear nite element layers oriented alternatively at 0 and 90. The me-
analyses. chanical properties of the single ply are reported in
Table 1.

2. Panel description

The optimisation procedure is applied to low curva- 3. Formulation of the optimisation problem
ture stiened panels (Fig. 1) made of carbon ber rein-
forced plastic (CFRP) woven and designed for The goal of the optimisation is to nd the minimum
compression loads. The skin of the panels has internal weight panel subject to post-buckling constraints. The
curvature radius of 1500 mm, arch-length of 706 mm panel weight W is a function of the number of internal
layers at 45 in the skin (X 1 ), the number of layers in
the stieners (X 2 ), the side dimension of the stieners
(X 3 ) and their number (X 4 ). The optimisation domain is
reported in Table 2.
Thus, the panel weight can be calculated as

Table 2
Optimisation domain
Description Minimum Maximum
value value
Number of layers at 45 in the skin X 1 1 4
Number of layers in the stieners X 2 4 12
Fig. 1. Low curvature stiened panel under compression (dimensions Side dimension of the stieners (mm) X 3 22 35
in mm). Number of stieners X 4 3 6
C. Bisagni, L. Lanzi / Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247 239

W X 1 ; X 2 ; X 3 ; X 4 q2X 4 X 3 X 2 LX 1 2th 1

where L is the panel arch-length, h is the panel height,


while t and q are the thickness and the density of the ply,
respectively.
The optimisation problem is formulated in order to
minimise the weight, allowing the panel to work in the
post-buckling eld. In particular, during the structural
design it is possible to identify a buckling load Pcr , that is
a local skin buckling between the stieners and it can be
overcome in several occasion, and a collapse load Pco ,
that is a global buckling of the structure before collapse
and failures and it can never be reached during the life of
the panel itself. About the optimisation problem, three Fig. 2. Optimisation procedure.
constraints are considered on the buckling load Pcr , on
the collapse load Pco and on the pre-buckling stiness
Spb , that must be all higher than minimum allowable
values, so to obtain a nal conguration with an high consists in dening the nite element model, later used
ratio between the collapse load and the buckling load. to generate the training and test sets. The second step
Consequently, the optimisation problem can be formu- consists in developing a system of parallel neural net-
lated as works able to reproduce the behaviour of the structural
component. Then, a minimum number of nite element
Minimise W X analyses is performed to generate the examples for the
8 training and test sets of the neural networks. The trained
>
> P X > P cr neural networks system allows a quick evaluation of the
< cr 2
subject to Pco X > P co structure behaviour versus the design variables without
>
> any other nite element analysis, considerably reducing
:
S pb X > S pb the total computational costs. The third step consists in
the optimisation phase based on GA.
Besides reduced computational costs, the optimisa-
3.1. Optimisation procedure
tion procedure above described oers also the advantage
of a complete separation between the system modelling
The optimisation problem including buckling and
and the optimisation phase.
collapse constraints results highly non-linear. The need
to consider the post-buckling eld and to follow the
load versus displacement curve till the collapse of the
panel requires the use of non-linear nite element 4. Finite element analyses
analyses. Besides, the optimisation problem involves the
simultaneous presence of continuous and discrete The nite element analyses are used to generate the
variables, as the stieners number and the panel lay-up. structural responses for the training and test sets of the
The need to consider simultaneously discrete and neural networks. The nite element code ABAQUS
continuous variables suggests the use of a non-gradient- [13] is used, with both the implicit and explicit solvers,
based method as the GA. Indeed, the GA do not require implemented respectively in ABAQUS/Standard and
gradient computations so that the presence of integer ABAQUS/Explicit (Version 5.8.18).
variables and the absence of derivable functions do The stiened panels are modelled by 4-nodes shells
not represent a diculty. As main disadvantage this S4R, with six degree of freedom at each node, three
kind of search algorithms requires a very high num- integration points along the thickness for each ply and
ber of function evaluations if compared to gradient- bending strain measures that are approximations of
based algorithms. Consequently a direct use of GA those of KoiterSanders shell theory. After a prelimi-
coupled with non-linear nite element analyses results nary mesh sensitivity study, the dimensions of the shell
too expensive from the computational point of view. elements are chosen equal to 8  8 mm2 . The number of
The idea here presented is to develop an optimisation shell elements in the whole model varies from 8400 to
procedure based on GA coupled with a global approx- 10 000, depending on the number of the stieners and
imation strategy, where tness evaluations are given by their dimensions. A linear elastic behaviour is consid-
a neural networks system trained by means of nite el- ered as constitutive material law.
ement analyses. The procedure, sketched in Fig. 2, can The need to analyse dierent geometrical cong-
be summarised into three dierent steps. The rst step urations requires the implementation of an algorithm
240 C. Bisagni, L. Lanzi / Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247

capable to generate the ABAQUS input les in an auto- 5.1. Neural networks
matic way. To do so, an ad hoc procedure is carried out
using Matlab 5.3 [14]. The neural networks (NN) are a computing system
According to the results obtained in a previous work of simple processing elements, called nodes or units,
[2], two dierent types of analyses are jointly used to mutually connected by links and organised in series of
obtain both buckling and post-buckling behaviour of layers [1517]. Each node receives an input signal, that is
the composite stiened panels: eigenvalue analysis and the weighted sum of its input links, and computes an
dynamic analysis. Eigenvalue linear analyses, using activation signal sent to the next layer along the output
ABAQUS/Standard, are performed to evaluate the rst links. The activation signal is computed in each node by
buckling load. These analyses return as output also the the denition of an inputoutput relation called transfer
eigenmode shape from which it is possible to distinguish function, while the interconnection scheme denes the
between a local skin buckling and a global buckling NN architecture.
that, involving the whole structure, is usually very close The NN use neither classication criteria nor asso-
to collapse. ciative rules and are not programmed to solve a specic
Dynamic analyses are used to simulate the dynamic problem using physic equations and models, but they
of a slow compression with assigned displacement of the use previously known examples to build a system of
stiened curved panels. The equations of equilibrium are nodes that learn how to solve a problem changing the
solved by an explicit integration operator, using the nature and the intensity of the input links. Consequently
central dierence formula implemented in ABAQUS/ one of the distinct characteristics of the NN is their
Explicit. The dynamic analyses of the curved stiened ability to learn and generalise from examples and to
panels are performed xing an edge of the panel and adapt themselves to changing situations.
imposing a known displacement to the opposite edge. The NN used in the present investigation are multi
The accuracy of the dynamic analyses results highly layers perceptron (MLP). The MLP consists of an input
depending on the displacement velocity, as the equa- layer, one or more hidden layers and an output layer.
tions of equilibrium governing the dynamic phenomena They are feedforward NN, because the signals always
consider inertial forces. Good results are obtained by propagate from the rst to the last layer.
maintaining the displacement velocity equal to 10 mm/s, The training process involves a set of examples, the
so that the inertia eects are negligible and the dierence training set, characterised by known outputs. The MLP
between the buckling load values obtained by the ei- system adjusts its interconnection weight so to minimise
genvalue analyses and the ones obtained by the dynamic the RMS error between the known outputs of the
analyses are <3%. The dynamic analyses allow to in- training set and the returned outputs of the system. The
vestigate of the deformed shape evolution from the pre- choice of the right training tests is very important be-
buckling to the post-buckling eld until the collapse and cause they qualify the nal performances of the MLP.
are able to follow the curve of the compression reaction The generalisation ability of the trained NN is estimated
load versus the imposed displacement even in the post- through a certain number of verication examples, that
buckling eld. make up the test set.
A main disadvantage of dynamic analyses is they
require high CPU time and hardware resources com-
pared to the eigenvalue ones. The average CPU time 5.2. Training and test sets
required for an eigenvalue analysis and a dynamic
analysis is equal to about 280 s and 12 h respectively, The training and test sets are dened inside the op-
using a parallel machine HP N4000 with eight proces- timisation domain by changing the design variable val-
sors and 8 GB of RAM. ues. The values of the design variables for each example
are chosen using a suitable algorithm, which guarantees
a random and homogeneous allocation inside the opti-
misation domain. In order to minimise the number of
5. Denition of the neural networks system nite element analyses and consequently the total CPU
time, 70 eigenvalue analyses are performed to obtain the
A system of parallel neural networks is designed to buckling load and 55 dynamic analyses are performed to
evaluate the global behaviour of the stiened panels obtain the load versus displacement curves. The collapse
versus the design variables. In this way, the computa- load and the displacements in correspondence to the
tional costs of the optimisation procedure are consid- buckling load and the collapse load are read on the
erably reduced, because only a minimum number of loaddisplacement curve.
nite element analyses is required to generate the ex- The nite element analyses are then divided between
amples for the training and test sets of the neural net- the training and the test sets. In particular the training
works. set consists of 54 eigenvalue analyses and 45 dynamic
C. Bisagni, L. Lanzi / Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247 241

analyses, while the test set consists of the remaining 16


eigenvalue analyses and 10 dynamic analyses.

5.3. Architecture of the NN system

The aim is to design a NN system able to reproduce


the global behaviour of the structure in the optimisation
domain. The design of a single NN, that is able to
evaluate at the same time all the structural responses
required in the optimisation procedure, seems incom-
patible with the need to maintain the nite element ana-
lyses as limited as possible. Consequently, in order to
obtain better performances and to reduce the training
and test sets, a system of dierent NN is designed.
The optimisation phase requires the knowledge of
dierent structural responses even in the post-buckling
eld. In particular the structural responses, which must
be returned by the NN system, are the buckling load, the
initial stiness and the collapse load. Since the use of
only these structural indices seems a bit restrictive cri-
terion to compare the performances of dierent stiened
panels congurations, another NN is designed to re- Fig. 3. NN system conguration.
produce the whole load versus displacement curve.
To improve the speed and the eciency of the P crx denotes the system that receives as input the
learning phase, the input and output data are scaled. In scaled vector x of the design variables and returns the
this way, the weight values are maintained of the same scaled buckling load value. P crx uses two MLP
magnitude order throughout the node layers and neural networks, net1 a and net1 b, trained by means
the input values of each node fall in a region where the of the LevenbergMarquardt backpropagation learning
transfer function results more sensitive. Indeed, the rule. The architecture of these two NN is described in
transfer functions used in the MLP are upper and lower Table 3. The maximum error of the buckling load values
limited between )1 and 1. In particular, the input data obtained by P crx compared to the ones obtained by
are linearly scaled between 0 and 1 using the simple the nite element analyses of the training and test set is
function:
x X Xmin =XMAX Xmin 3
Table 3
where x is the scaled value of the design variable vector NN description
X, Xmin and XMAX are the minimum and maximum Name First line Second line Third line
values of the optimisation domain respectively, reported Nodes Function Nodes Function Nodes Function
in Table 2. The output data are linearly scaled between 0 net1 a 6 Hyperbolic 1 Linear
and 1 in the same way. Also the displacement vector tangent
needed to dene the load displacement curve is scaled. net1 b 4 Hyperbolic 2 Hyperbolic 1 Linear
tangent tangent
Fixed equal to 4.5 mm the maximum imposed edge
net2 a 3 Hyperbolic 3 Hyperbolic 1 Linear
displacement, DMAX , and built the displacement vector tangent tangent
D considering 100 points equally spaced from zero to net2 b 4 Hyperbolic 3 Hyperbolic 1 Linear
the maximum displacement value, the scaled displace- tangent tangent
ment vector d is given by net3 a 3 Hyperbolic 3 Hyperbolic 1 Linear
tangent tangent
d D=DMAX 4 net3 b 4 Hyperbolic 4 Hyperbolic 1 Linear
tangent tangent
Fig. 3 shows the adopted NN architecture, that is im- net4 a 4 Hyperbolic 1 Linear
tangent
plemented in Matlab [18]. A number of two or three
net4 b 3 Hyperbolic 3 Hyperbolic 1 Linear
parallel NN are used to evaluate the buckling load, the tangent tangent
collapse load and the corresponding displacements. net4 c 4 Hyperbolic 2 Hyperbolic 1 Linear
Another NN is designed to calculate the load versus tangent tangent
displacement curve. The nal values are obtained put- NET 8 Hyperbolic 24 Hyperbolic 1 Linear
tangent tangent
ting all the outputs together into a nal box.
242 C. Bisagni, L. Lanzi / Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247

at the collapse load obtained by D cox compared to


the ones obtained by the nite element analyses is lower
than 10%, as showed in Fig. 4. The errors of the training
and test sets are distributed uniformly on the error
bands.
NET x; d is a single neural network that receives as
input the two scaled vectors, x and d; and returns the
load versus displacement curve. NET x; d is made of
three lines with respectively 8, 24 and 1 nodes, as re-
ported in Table 3. The learning phase of this neural
network is rather heavy from the computational point of
view because there are 256 weights and 33 basis. Con-
sequently the independent variables for the RMS error
minimisation are 289. However, the learning phase,
performed following the LevenbergMarquardt back-
Fig. 4. NN errors on the training and test sets.
propagation rule, is several orders of magnitude less
expensive than a nite element analysis.
In order to improve the system performances, P crx,
lower than 7%, as shown in the error graph reported in P cox, D crx, D cox and NET x; d are used to-
Fig. 4. From Fig. 4 it is also possible to notice that more gether. Their responses are then passed as inputs to
than 75% of the examples both of the training and the BOX . . ., that evaluates at rst the buckling load,
test sets present an error within 4%. the collapse load and the corresponding displacements
P cox denotes the system that receives as input the upon the load versus displacement curve returned by
scaled vector x of the design variables and returns the NET x; d. Then it compares the obtained values to the
scaled collapse load value. Even P cox uses two MLP values returned by P crx, P cox, D crx and D cox
neural networks, net2 a and net2 b, trained by means of and nds the nal values as a weighted average. After
the LevenbergMarquardt learning rule. Their archi- this the load versus displacement curve is redrawn.
tecture is described in Table 3. The maximum error of The NN system is able to reproduce accurately the
the collapse load values obtained by P cox compared behaviour of the analysed structures. The knowledge of
to the ones obtained by the nite element analyses of the the approximate load versus displacement curve and of
training and test sets is lower than 7% and it is obtained the local values as the buckling load, the collapse load
from the training set, as shown in the error graph re- and the corresponding displacements, allow the required
ported in Fig. 4. Besides, more than 75% of the examples constraint evaluations.
both of the training and the test set present an error
within 5%.
Similar performances are obtained as far as concerns
the displacement corresponding to the buckling load, 6. Genetic algorithms
evaluated by D crx. D crx consists of two MLP
neural networks, net3 a and net3 b, whose architecture is GA are optimisation algorithms [19] based on the
described in Table 3. Also in this case net3 a and net3 b natural evolution concept coming from Darwins theory
are trained using the LevenbergMarquardt backprop- of evolution. The natural selection increase the surviving
agation learning rule. The maximum error of the dis- capabilities of a population over the generations. The
placement values at the buckling loads obtained by genetic informations of each individual are stored in a
D crx compared to the ones obtained by the nite el- chromosomal string (DNA) and the goodness of the
ement analyses, as showed in Fig. 4, is lower than 7% individual is measured by dening a tness function
and it is obtained on the test set. In this case, 75% of the based on the DNA. Only the individuals with better
training set examples present an error lower than 4%, characteristics survive during the evolutionary process
while 75% of the test set examples present an error lower so that the tness function is maximised.
than 5%. The constrained minimisation problem, reported
The response of the system D cox appears a little previously in Eq. (2), is transformed into an uncon-
bit less accurate. D cox returns the displacement strained maximisation problem, dening the tness
corresponding to the collapse load and it consists of function as the reciprocal of the panel weight multiplied
three MLP neural networks, net4 a, net4 b and net4 c, by the penalty functions:
trained using the LevenbergMarquardt backpropaga-
Y 1
tion learning rule, whose architecture is reported in Fitnessx mx; ci i 5
Table 3. The maximum error of the displacement values W x
C. Bisagni, L. Lanzi / Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247 243

where x represents the DNA of the structure, W x the 7.1. Optimised conguration
panel weight, mx; ci i , i 1; . . . ; 3 three dierent expo-
nential penalty functions used to evaluate the con- The genetic search is performed with an initial popu-
straints upon the buckling load, c1 , the collapse load, c2 , lation of 40 members, generated randomly inside the
and
Q the pre-buckling stiness, c3 , respectively, and optimisation domain. The probability of crossover and
mx; ci i represents the product of the three penalty mutation are xed to 0.75 and 0.05, respectively.
functions. The GA converged after 19 generations and required
The GA used in the present investigation are imple- 760 tness function evaluations.
mented in Matlab [14]. Only three basic genetic opera- The optimised panel is characterised by a weight of
tors are used: selection, crossover and mutation. The 18.98 N and presents three layers at 45 in the skin, six
selection operator produces or eliminates the members stieners, seven layers in the stieners and side dimen-
characterised by high or low tness values, respectively. sions of the stieners equal to 24.5 mm.
A common approach is to assign a probability of se- The solution obtained using the NN system is veried
lection on the basis of the tness function to each by means of nite element analyses using ABAQUS.
member of an initial population. The crossover process The buckling load is calculated by an eigenvalue ana-
allows the exchange of the characteristics among a se- lysis while the load versus displacement curve is ob-
lected set of the population. In general two members, tained by a dynamic analysis.
called parents, are chosen among the initial population The optimised conguration is characterised by a
and their DNA is randomly combined bearing two new ratio between the collapse load and the buckling load
members, called children. The mutation operator is in- equal to 2.05 and satises the imposed constraints as
troduced to safeguard the process from a premature loss reported in Table 4, where the dierences between the
of genetic information during crossover. In particular a NN system and the nite element analysis are also re-
few members of the population are chosen and their ported. The NN response shows a good approximation
DNA is randomly changed according to a probability of level if compared to the values obtained performing
mutation. the validation nite element analyses. A direct com-
A single binary string 16 bits long codies the genetic parison of the load versus displacement curves obtained
information of any member of the population in a given
generation. The rst two bits describe the lay-up of the
skin, then three bits represent the number of layers, nine Table 4
Optimised conguration
bits the side dimension of the stieners and the last two
bits take into account their number. Panel weight (N) 18.98
Panel behaviour Con- FE ana- NN sys- % Dier-
straints lysis tem ence
Buckling load (kN) >75 79.94 79.3 0.8
Collapse load (kN) >135 164.5 162.5 1.2
7. Optimisation results Pre-buckling >120 124.7 129.8 4.1
stiness (kN/mm)
The optimisation problem is formulated in order to Displacement at the 0.641 0.611 4.7
nd the number of layers at 45 in the skin of the buckling load (mm)
panel, the number of layers in the stieners, the side
dimension of the stieners as well as their number so to
minimise the weight of the panel subject to the following
constraints:

8
< Pcr X > 75 kN
Pco X > 135 kN 6
:
S pb X > 120 kN=mm

The values of the minimum buckling load and collapse


load are evaluated considering panels made of alumin-
ium alloy and actually used in helicopter eld. With
these constraints, a panel conguration characterised by
a post-buckling eld with local skin buckling between
the stieners till the collapse load and by an high ratio
between the collapse load and the buckling load is ex- Fig. 5. Comparison between the load versus displacement curves ob-
pected. tained by NN system and nite element analysis.
244 C. Bisagni, L. Lanzi / Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247

respectively by the NN system and by the non-linear cerns the introduction of verication and design criteria
dynamic analysis is presented in Fig. 5. considering failure and progressive damage mecha-
Fig. 6 shows the deformed shape evolution, obtained nisms. So, even if during the optimisation procedure no
by the non-linear nite element analysis, with a magni- failure and damage constraints were directly considered,
cation factor equal to 4. It is possible to see that the the optimised panel conguration is then veried to
post-buckling eld is characterised by a local skin buck- check that there was no failure in the post-buckling eld
ling between the stieners before the collapse. before the collapse load.
The adopted optimisation procedure based on the A non-linear dynamic nite element analysis is then
GA coupled with the NN system has allowed a con- performed on the optimised structure adopting the Tsai
siderable reduction of the total computational costs. Hill failure criterion [2022] as available in ABAQUS
Indeed, to nd the optimal conguration, 55 nite ele- [13].
ment non-linear analyses were performed in a total CPU According to the TsaiHill criterion, a failure index
time of about 660 h using a parallel machine HP N4000 (here indicated as F) is dened, once known the strength
with eight processors and 8 GB of RAM. To this it must values of the material rij :
be added the CPU time required by the neural networks
training processes and all the optimisation runs, that is r211 r11
r22 r222 r212
F 2 2 7
comparable to a single nite element analysis. In com- r211 r211 r22 r12
parison, a direct optimisation, that uses directly the -
nite element analyses to evaluate the objective function Local failures happen when the failure index F becomes
coupled with GA would have required about 760 dif- >1. The verication analysis shows that the failure index
ferent simulations, that means about 9480 h of CPU of the nal conguration is lower than 1 till the collapse
times. load as reported in Fig. 7, where the contour of the
failure index F is plotted. Consequently the obtained
conguration results able to work in the entire post-
7.2. Failure considerations on the optimised conguration buckling eld without any local failure. From Fig. 7, it is
also possible to see that the most critical areas in the
One of the most critical aspects of structural opti- post-buckling eld moves from the skin to the stieners.
misation problems involving composite materials con- The structural collapse happens for buckling of the

Fig. 6. Deformed shape evolution of the optimised panel.


C. Bisagni, L. Lanzi / Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247 245

Fig. 7. Failure identication with TsaiHill criterion.

stieners and the failure occurs in the stieners blades hypothesis that the panel remains in the pre-buckling
and anges due to high bending and shear deformations. eld until the collapse load.
This second optimisation is performed in order to
7.3. Weight reduction considerations minimise the panel weight, subjected to two dierent
constraints. The rst constraint is on the buckling load
The main advantage of the optimisation procedure that must be higher than the collapse load, equal to 135
here presented is the complete separation between the kN, and the second constraint is on the initial stiness
system modelling and the optimisation problem. In this that must be higher than 120 kN/mm. The genetic search
way it is possible to run dierent optimisations changing is performed with an initial population of 40 members
either constraints or objective functions without any and probability of crossover and mutation equal to 0.75
other nite element analysis. Indeed, the trained system and 0.05 respectively.
of parallel NN is able to reproduce the behaviour of the This second panel optimised conguration is charac-
structural component. terised by a weight of 23.26 N and presents four layers at
This advantage is used here to compare the obtained 45 in the skin, six stieners, 10 layers in the stieners
optimised conguration, able to work in the post- and side dimensions of the stieners equal to 22 mm.
buckling eld with a local skin buckling between the As reported in Table 5, the conguration meets the
stieners, to a second conguration obtained under the initial design requirements and also in this case the NN
246 C. Bisagni, L. Lanzi / Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247

Table 5 is equal to 18%. Allowing a local skin buckling seems so


Comparison conguration without post-buckling eld a protable way to reduce signicantly the weight of
Panel weight (N) 23.26 stiened composite structures.
Panel behaviour Con- FE NN % Dier- The optimised conguration has been then veried
straints analysis system ence using the TsaiHill failure criterion to see that there
Buckling load (kN) >135 138 142 2.9 was no failure in the post-buckling eld before the col-
Pre-buckling stiness >120 133 136 2.2 lapse load, even if during the optimisation procedure
(kN/mm)
no failure and damage constraints were directly con-
Displacement at the 1.039 1.040 0.1
buckling load (mm) sidered.
The optimisation procedure appears exible and ap-
plicable to various engineering problems in which the
results are given by complex and expensive models and
response shows a good approximation level if compared a high number of analyses are necessary to reach a
to the values obtained by the validation nite element suitable optimum.
analyses. Comparing the rst optimised conguration,
where a local skin buckling between the stieners is
allowed, to this second conguration, the reduction Acknowledgements
in weight is equal to 18%. It is so possible to take
advantage from the post-buckling eld to reduce sig- The authors would like to thank Prof. Vittorio
nicantly the structural weight of stiened composite Giavotto for his generous advises and Prof. Sergio Ricci
structures. for the useful discussions on the formulation of the
optimisation problem. The support provided by the
European Commission, Competitive and Sustainable
Growth Programme, Contract No. G4RD-CT-1999-
8. Conclusions 00103, project Improved Postbuckling Simulation
for Design of Fibre Composite Stiened Structures
A procedure for the post-buckling optimisation of (POSICOSS) is gratefully acknowledged.
composite stiened panels is here presented. Due to the
presence of integer variables, as the number of stieners
and the panel lay-up, the use of genetic algorithms ap-
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