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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.
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
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
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
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
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
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