LOW ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT COMPOSITE STRUCTURES DESIGN OPTIMISATION

C. MORILLO; D. S. LEE; G. BUGEDA; S. OLLER; E. OÑATE

Conferencia; Mechanics of Nano, Micro and Macro Composite Structures; 2012

The paper investigates multi-objective stacking sequence design optimisation ofenvironmental friendly composite structures using computational intelligence system andFinite Element Analysis (FEA). During the optimisation the model consists of multilayeredlow environmental impact composites reinforced with natural fiber from agro-residues intotwo matrix widely used in green composites: biopolymer Poly 3-hydroxybuty-rate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate (PHBV) and oil-based polymer Polypropylene (PP). Two design problems of stacking sequence are considered; the first test case maximises the stiffness of Eco-Composite Structure (ECS) while minimising its total weight. The second application is to maximise the stiffness while minimising its total weight and Environmental Impact (EI). It is proposed a methodology to determine the environmental impact of the composite structures considering the three phases of its cycle-life. For the optimisation, distributed/parallel Genetic Algorithm (GA) in Robust Multi-objective Optimisation Platform (RMOP) developed at CIMNE is used and it is coupled with a FEA based composite structure analysis tool named Compack to find the optimal combination of stacking sequences for eco-composite structures. The innovations in this study are over the development of optimization methods for eco-composites, and the use of multidisciplinary optimization methodology considering the mechanical performance and environmental impact simultaneously. Numerical results show that the optimal ecocomposite structures have higher stiffness with lower weight and lower environmental impact when compared to PHBV biopolimer structures, and similar mechanical properties to PP syntethic polymers structures with significant reduction in its environmental impact.