Thermal buckling load optimization of laminated composite plates

In this study, the applicability of the Modified Feasible Direction (MFD) method on the thermal buckling optimization of laminated plates subjected to uniformly distributed temperature load is investigated. The objective function is to maximize the critical temperature capacity of laminated plates and the fiber orientation is considered as design variable. The first-order shear deformation theory is used in the mathematical formulation. For this purpose, a program based on FORTRAN is used for the optimization of laminated plates. Finally, the effect of aspect ratio, antisymmetric lay-up, boundary condition, material anisotropy, ratio of coefficients of thermal expansion, and hybrid laminates on the results is investigated and the results are compared. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.