Optimum design for thermal buckling of composite plates with semi triangular cutout using PSO algorithm

In this work, the optimization of the effective parameters on the thermal buckling of a square composite plate with various stacking sequence containing quasi- triangular cutout in the center using particle swarm optimization (PSO) to achieve the maximum resistance of plate against thermal buckling load is done. It is assumed that the plate is under a uniform temperature distribution. The stability equations are based on the first order shear deformation theory. The thermal buckling analysis and the PSO algorithm are performed using the code developed in MATLAB software. In this study, the design variables are: fiber angle, bluntness of cutout corners, cutout orientation, and cutout size to plate size ratio, which are determined by using the PSO algorithm to optimize the parameters for the highest critical buckling temperature. The results showed that the plate with a quasi-triangular cutout has more resistance to thermal buckling than the plate with a circular cutout. It was also found that the thermal buckling of a composite plate is dependent on various parameters and the maximum thermal buckling load can be achieved by the appropriate selection of these parameters.