Optimum design of composite plate wings for aeroelastic characteristics using lamination parameters

The present paper treats the flutter and divergence characteristics of composite plate wings with various sweep angles. First, the effect of laminate configuration on the flutter and divergence characteristics is investigated for composite plate wings. To examine the effect of laminate configuration, the flutter and divergence characteristics are represented on the lamination parameter plane. Next, a minimum weight design of composite plate wings subjected to the constraints on the flutter and divergence speeds is conducted by using a genetic algorithm in which lamination parameters are used as design variables. The effectiveness of aeroelastic tailoring is demonstrated through the optimization results. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.