Browsing by Author "Yang, Wei"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    A modified ant colony algorithm for the stacking sequence optimisation of a rectangular laminate
    (Springer Science Business Media, 2010-05-31T00:00:00Z) Wang, Wei; Guo, Shijun J.; Chang, Nan; Zhao, Feng; Yang, Wei
    This paper presents a modified Ant Colony Algorithm (ACA) called multi-city- layer ant colony algorithm (MCLACA). The research attention is focused on improving the computational efficiency in the stacking sequence optimisation of a laminated composite plate for maximum buckling load. A new operator, the so- called two point interchange, is introduced and proved to be effective for reducing the convergence time and enhancing the robustness in the MCLACA performance. The laminate optimisation is subject to balanced and symmetric layup with ply contiguous and strength constraints. In order to assess the MCLACA performance, a simply supported rectangular laminate plate, which was taken as numerical example in previous research using traditional ACA and genetic algorithm (GA) is chosen as a benchmark case study. Comparing with the ACA and GA results, it is shown that the presented MCLACA has better performance in terms of computational efficiency and robustness. To demonstrate the applicability of the MCLACA to a general case, an additional example of laminate optimisation has been taken with more design variables and five different boundary conditions by finite element analysis.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Optimum buckling design of composite stiffened panels using ant colony algorithm
    (Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam., 2010-02-01T00:00:00Z) Wang, Wei; Guo, Shijun J.; Chang, Nan; Yang, Wei
    Optimal design of laminated composite stiffened panels of symmetric and balanced layup with different number of T-shape stiffeners is investigated and presented. The stiffened panels are simply supported and subjected to uniform biaxial compressive load. In the optimization for the maximum buckling load without weight penalty, the panel skin and the stiffened laminate stacking sequence, thickness and the height of the stiffeners are chosen as design variables. The optimization is carried out by applying an ant colony algorithm (ACA) with the ply contiguous constraint taken into account. The finite strip method is employed in the buckling analysis of the stiffened panels. The results shows that the buckling load increases dramatically with the number of stiffeners at first, and then has only a small improvement after the number of stiffeners reaches a certain value. An optimal layup of the skin and stiffener laminate has also been obtained by using the ACA. The methods presented in this paper should be applicable to the design of stiffened composite panels in similar loading conditions.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Simultaneous partial topology and size optimization of a wing structure using ant colony and gradient based methods
    (Taylor & Francis, 2011-04-30T00:00:00Z) Wang, Wei; Guo, Shijun J.; Yang, Wei
    This article presents a methodology and process for a combined wing configuration partial topology and structure size optimization. It is aimed at achieving a minimum structural weight by optimizing the structure layout and structural component size simultaneously. This design optimization process contains two types of design variables and hence was divided into two sub- problems. One is structure layout topology to obtain an optimal number and location of spars with discrete integer design variables. Another is component size optimization with continuous design variables in the structure FE model. A multi city-layer ant colony optimization (MCLACO) method is proposed and applied to the topology sub-problem. A gradient based optimization method (GBOM) built in the MSC.NASTRAN SOL-200 module was employed in the component size optimization sub-problem. For each selected layout of the wing structure, a size optimization process is performed to obtain the optimum result and feedback to the layout topology process. The numerical example shows that the proposed MCLACO method and a combination with the GBOM are effective for solving such a wing structure optimization problem. The results also indicate that significant structural weight saving can be achieved.