Genetic algorithm optimization and blending of composite laminates by locally reducing laminate thickness

Composite panel structure optimization is commonly decomposed into panel optimization subproblems, with specified local loads, resulting in manufacturing incompatibilities between adjacent panel designs. A new method proposed here for constructing globally blended panel designs uses a parallel decomposition antithetical to that of earlier work. Rather than performing concurrent panel genetic optimizations, a single genetic optimization is conducted for the entire structure with the parallelism solely within the fitness evaluations. A genetic algorithm approach, based on locally reducing a thick (guide) laminate, is introduced to exclusively generate and evaluate valid globally blended designs, utilizing a simple master-slave parallel implementation, implicitly reducing the size of the problem design space and increasing the quality of discovered local optima. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.