Position optimization of circular/elliptical cutout within an orthotropic rectangular plate for maximum buckling load

Position of a circular or elliptical cutout within an orthotropic plate has great influence on its buckling behavior. This paper aims at finding the optimal position (both location and orientation) of a single circular/elliptical cutout, within an orthotropic rectangular plate, that maximizes the critical buckling load. We consider linear buckling of simply supported orthotropic plates under uniaxial edge loads. To obtain the optimal positions of the cutouts, we have employed a MATLAB optimization routine coupled with buckling computation in ANSYS. Our results show that the position of the cutout that maximizes the buckling load has great dependence on the material properties, laminate configurations, and the geometrical parameters of the plate. These optimal results, for a number of plate geometries and cutout sizes, are reported in this paper. These results will be useful in the design of perforated orthotropic plates against buckling failure.