Evolutionary identification and optimization of composite structures

This paper deals with the application of the global optimization methods (evolutionary algorithms) to the optimization and identification problems in laminates. The simple and hybrid laminates are considered. There are two aims of the paper: i) to find the optimum stacking sequence of the laminates and ii) to identify the material constants of the laminates. The modal analysis methods are used in both cases. The distributed version of the evolutionary algorithm is used to reduce the computation time. The finite element method software is employed to solve the direct boundary-value problem.