Stacking-Sequence Optimization and Buckling Analysis of Graphene/Fiber-Reinforced Laminated Plates

Document Type : Special Issue: Mechanics of Advanced Fiber Reinforced Composite Structures

Authors

1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Durban University of Technology, Durban, 4001, South Africa

2 Department of Mechanical Engineering and Institute for Systems Science, Durban University of Technology, Durban, 4001, South Africa

Abstract

The use of graphene-based composites, particularly in aerospace and structural applications, has received extensive attention in recent years. Graphene nanoplatelets are normally used to enhance composite materials' mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties. The present research investigates the biaxial buckling of two- and three-phase angle ply laminated plates reinforced with carbon or glass fibers.  The simply supported plate in this study is defined as a 16-ply symmetric and balanced laminate with uniform distribution of the fiber and graphene content through the thickness. The objective of this work is to produce a cost-effective design using the minimum amount of expensive reinforcement while maximizing the compressive buckling load. The desired results are achieved by finding the optimal stacking sequence of reinforcement fibers, as well as selecting an optimal amount of graphene nanoplatelets and fiber volume content. Numerical results are first obtained for two-phase laminates with different ratios of applied loads. Further, three-phase laminates are studied and, among other things, the relationship between the fiber and graphene content is analyzed. The optimization procedures were performed by particle swarm optimization (PSO) for continuous optimization and genetic algorithm (GA) for integer optimization. The software applications were written by the authors and proved to be very fast and efficient.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Mechanics of Advanced Composite Structures
Volume 12, Special Issue 2: Mechanics of Advanced Fiber-Reinforced Composite Structures - Serial Number 25
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Semnan University, Handled by the Esteemed Journal Editor, Prof. Dr. Mavinkere Rangappa Sanjay - In Progress
August 2025
Pages 413-424

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