Post-buckling optimisation of composite stiened panels

using neural networks

C. Bisagni
*
, L. Lanzi
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via La Masa 34, 20158 Milan, Italy
Abstract
This paper deals with the denition of a post-buckling optimisation procedure for the design of composite stiened panels
subjected to compression loads. The optimised structures are then characterised by a local skin buckling between the stieners and
by a high ratio between the collapse load and the buckling load. To overcome too expensive analyses from a computational point of
view, an optimisation procedure is developed. It is based on a global approximation strategy, where the structure response is given
by a system of neural networks trained by means of nite element analyses, and on genetic algorithms, that results particularly
protable due to the presence of integer variables. The optimisation procedure reduces considerably the computational costs, oers a
complete separation between the system modelling and the optimisation problem and shows that a local skin buckling between the
stieners allows a weight reduction equal to 18%.
2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Post-buckling; Composite stiened panels; Neural networks; Genetic algorithms
1. Introduction
Stiened panels are a structural typology extensively
used in the aerospace eld mainly for their high e-
ciency: aircraft fuselages, helicopter tails, wing skin and
rocket structures are but a few examples.
A deep knowledge of the aluminium alloy behaviour
and the development of accurate analysis models allows,
nowadays, the building of aluminium alloy stiened
panels able to work in the post-buckling eld during
their life; i.e. with a local skin buckling between the
stieners, in that way reducing signicantly the weight
of the structures.
The use of stiened panels made by composite ma-
terials, which oer considerable high strength-to-weight
and stiness-to-weight ratios, can bring a further sub-
stantial reduction in structural weight. However, until
recently the use of composite materials appears largely
limited to panels and to sandwiches structures designed
to work only in the pre-buckling eld, due to the com-
plexity of the buckling phenomenon. For such kinds of
structures a complex interaction between experimental
tests and numerical/analytical methods is required [14],
due to the lack of design procedures. In any case, the
design of stiened composite panels, able to overcome
the buckling load and to work in the post-buckling eld,
represents one of the major challenges for the aircraft
industries. Indeed, experimental studies [5] on the du-
rability of composite stiened panels under repeated
buckling shear and compression loads, showed that
stiened panels in composite materials, if well designed,
are less fatigue sensitive than the metal ones.
The optimisation of stiened composite panels sub-
jected to buckling and strength constraints was dealt
with several studies. A minimum weight design was
performed by Butler and Williams [6] using VICON-
OPT, a program for buckling and strength analyses
based on the direct solutions of the governing equations
assuming a deformation that varies sinusoidally. An-
other minimum weight optimisation, including buckling
load constraints, was proposed by Wiggenraad et al. [7]
using PANOPT, a computational program based on
Riks derivation for nite strip analyses. Damage tol-
erance and soft-skin concepts were introduced to limit
the ply thickness and geometry.
However, the possible presence of integer variables, as
the number and the orientation of the layers, makes the
use of the genetic algorithms (GA) particularly prot-
able in optimisation involving composite structures
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-02-2399-8390; fax: +39-02-2399-
8334.
E-mail addresses: chiara.bisagni@polimi.it (C. Bisagni), lanzi@
aero.polimi.it (L. Lanzi).
0263-8223/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S0263- 8223( 02) 00053- 3
Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247
www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruct
[8,9]. Negendra et al. [10] proposed a minimum weight
optimisation of composite stiened shells based on an
improved GA and a nite strip method implemented in
the PASCO program to evaluate both buckling load and
strain constraints. More recently, Kaletta and Wolf [11]
applied a parallel computing GA, considering buckling
and maximum strength constraints, to stiened com-
posite plate panels. The tness evaluation was per-
formed using directly eigenvalue nite element analyses.
Lillico et al. [12] considered constraints on the buckling
load and also on the post-buckling maximum strength
during a minimum weight optimisation involving alu-
minium alloy stiened panels using VICONOPT. The
results obtained by VICONOPT were then veried using
ABAQUS.
The objective of this work is the denition of a fast
optimisation procedure for the design of stiened com-
posite panels able to work in the post-buckling eld. The
optimised structures are then characterised by a local
skin buckling between the stieners and by a high ratio
between the collapse load and the buckling load. The
need to consider the post-buckling eld directly in
the optimisation procedure and in the denition of the
constraints suggests the use of non-linear nite element
analyses. Unfortunately, the denition of an optimisa-
tion procedure using directly genetic algorithm and non-
linear nite element analyses results too expensive from
a computational point of view. To overcome these dif-
culties an optimisation procedure based on a global
approximation strategy is developed, where the struc-
ture response is approximated by a system of neural
networks trained by means of non-linear nite element
analyses.
2. Panel description
The optimisation procedure is applied to low curva-
ture stiened panels (Fig. 1) made of carbon ber rein-
forced plastic (CFRP) woven and designed for
compression loads. The skin of the panels has internal
curvature radius of 1500 mm, arch-length of 706 mm
and height of 700 mm. The stieners are L-shaped with
equal sides and their corners are rounded with a mean
radius of 4 mm for construction reasons. They are cured
on the internal side of the skin and they are as long as
the panel and equally spaced. The minimum and maxi-
mum distances between the blades of two contiguous
stieners varies from 134 to 342 mm. To avoid local
buckling along the free lateral edges, the rst and the
last stieners are placed in correspondence of the lateral
edges.
In many practical problems, the orientation angles in
the lay-up are limited to a small range of possibilities:
0, 90 and 45, where 0 is assumed as the direction
parallel to the stieners. The lay-up of the panel skin
consists of an upper exterior layer and a lower exterior
layer, both oriented at 0, and of internal layers whose
number changes from 1 to 4. The following lay-up se-
quences are considered for the internal layers: [45]; [45/
45]; [45/)45/45]; [45/)45/)45/45]. Instead, the
lay-up of the stieners consists of a variable number of
layers oriented alternatively at 0 and 90. The me-
chanical properties of the single ply are reported in
Table 1.
3. Formulation of the optimisation problem
The goal of the optimisation is to nd the minimum
weight panel subject to post-buckling constraints. The
panel weight W is a function of the number of internal
layers at 45 in the skin (X
1
), the number of layers in
the stieners (X
2
), the side dimension of the stieners
(X
3
) and their number (X
4
). The optimisation domain is
reported in Table 2.
Thus, the panel weight can be calculated as
Table 1
Material properties of the CFRP ply
Youngs modulus E
11
(N/mm
2
) 58615
Youngs modulus E
22
(N/mm
2
) 58615
Shear modulus G
12
(N/mm
2
) 3064
Poissons ratio m
12
0.048
Density q (kg/m
3
) 1510
Ply thickness t (mm) 0.33
Tensile strength r
11
r
22
(N/mm
2
) 440
Compression strength r
11
r
22
(N/mm
2
) 468
Shear strength r
12
(N/mm
2
) 99
Table 2
Optimisation domain
Description Minimum
value
Maximum
value
Number of layers at 45 in the skin X
1
1 4
Number of layers in the stieners X
2
4 12
Side dimension of the stieners (mm) X
3
22 35
Number of stieners X
4
3 6
Fig. 1. Low curvature stiened panel under compression (dimensions
in mm).
238 C. Bisagni, L. Lanzi / Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247
W X
1
; X
2
; X
3
; X
4
q 2X
4
X
3
X
2
LX
1
2th 1
where L is the panel arch-length, h is the panel height,
while t and q are the thickness and the density of the ply,
respectively.
The optimisation problem is formulated in order to
minimise the weight, allowing the panel to work in the
post-buckling eld. In particular, during the structural
design it is possible to identify a buckling load P
cr
, that is
a local skin buckling between the stieners and it can be
overcome in several occasion, and a collapse load P
co
,
that is a global buckling of the structure before collapse
and failures and it can never be reached during the life of
the panel itself. About the optimisation problem, three
constraints are considered on the buckling load P
cr
, on
the collapse load P
co
and on the pre-buckling stiness
S
pb
, that must be all higher than minimum allowable
values, so to obtain a nal conguration with an high
ratio between the collapse load and the buckling load.
Consequently, the optimisation problem can be formu-
lated as
Minimise W X
subject to
P
cr
X > P
cr
P
co
X > P
co
S
pb
X > S
pb
8
>
>
<
>
>
:
2
3.1. Optimisation procedure
The optimisation problem including buckling and
collapse constraints results highly non-linear. The need
to consider the post-buckling eld and to follow the
load versus displacement curve till the collapse of the
panel requires the use of non-linear nite element
analyses. Besides, the optimisation problem involves the
simultaneous presence of continuous and discrete
variables, as the stieners number and the panel lay-up.
The need to consider simultaneously discrete and
continuous variables suggests the use of a non-gradient-
based method as the GA. Indeed, the GA do not require
gradient computations so that the presence of integer
variables and the absence of derivable functions do
not represent a diculty. As main disadvantage this
kind of search algorithms requires a very high num-
ber of function evaluations if compared to gradient-
based algorithms. Consequently a direct use of GA
coupled with non-linear nite element analyses results
too expensive from the computational point of view.
The idea here presented is to develop an optimisation
procedure based on GA coupled with a global approx-
imation strategy, where tness evaluations are given by
a neural networks system trained by means of nite el-
ement analyses. The procedure, sketched in Fig. 2, can
be summarised into three dierent steps. The rst step
consists in dening the nite element model, later used
to generate the training and test sets. The second step
consists in developing a system of parallel neural net-
works able to reproduce the behaviour of the structural
component. Then, a minimum number of nite element
analyses is performed to generate the examples for the
training and test sets of the neural networks. The trained
neural networks system allows a quick evaluation of the
structure behaviour versus the design variables without
any other nite element analysis, considerably reducing
the total computational costs. The third step consists in
the optimisation phase based on GA.
Besides reduced computational costs, the optimisa-
tion procedure above described oers also the advantage
of a complete separation between the system modelling
and the optimisation phase.
4. Finite element analyses
The nite element analyses are used to generate the
structural responses for the training and test sets of the
neural networks. The nite element code ABAQUS
[13] is used, with both the implicit and explicit solvers,
implemented respectively in ABAQUS/Standard and
ABAQUS/Explicit (Version 5.8.18).
The stiened panels are modelled by 4-nodes shells
S4R, with six degree of freedom at each node, three
integration points along the thickness for each ply and
bending strain measures that are approximations of
those of KoiterSanders shell theory. After a prelimi-
nary mesh sensitivity study, the dimensions of the shell
elements are chosen equal to 8 8 mm
2
. The number of
shell elements in the whole model varies from 8400 to
10 000, depending on the number of the stieners and
their dimensions. A linear elastic behaviour is consid-
ered as constitutive material law.
The need to analyse dierent geometrical cong-
urations requires the implementation of an algorithm
Fig. 2. Optimisation procedure.
C. Bisagni, L. Lanzi / Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247 239
capable to generate the ABAQUS input les in an auto-
matic way. To do so, an ad hoc procedure is carried out
using Matlab 5.3 [14].
According to the results obtained in a previous work
[2], two dierent types of analyses are jointly used to
obtain both buckling and post-buckling behaviour of
the composite stiened panels: eigenvalue analysis and
dynamic analysis. Eigenvalue linear analyses, using
ABAQUS/Standard, are performed to evaluate the rst
buckling load. These analyses return as output also the
eigenmode shape from which it is possible to distinguish
between a local skin buckling and a global buckling
that, involving the whole structure, is usually very close
to collapse.
Dynamic analyses are used to simulate the dynamic
of a slow compression with assigned displacement of the
stiened curved panels. The equations of equilibrium are
solved by an explicit integration operator, using the
central dierence formula implemented in ABAQUS/
Explicit. The dynamic analyses of the curved stiened
panels are performed xing an edge of the panel and
imposing a known displacement to the opposite edge.
The accuracy of the dynamic analyses results highly
depending on the displacement velocity, as the equa-
tions of equilibrium governing the dynamic phenomena
consider inertial forces. Good results are obtained by
maintaining the displacement velocity equal to 10 mm/s,
so that the inertia eects are negligible and the dierence
between the buckling load values obtained by the ei-
genvalue analyses and the ones obtained by the dynamic
analyses are <3%. The dynamic analyses allow to in-
vestigate of the deformed shape evolution from the pre-
buckling to the post-buckling eld until the collapse and
are able to follow the curve of the compression reaction
load versus the imposed displacement even in the post-
buckling eld.
A main disadvantage of dynamic analyses is they
require high CPU time and hardware resources com-
pared to the eigenvalue ones. The average CPU time
required for an eigenvalue analysis and a dynamic
analysis is equal to about 280 s and 12 h respectively,
using a parallel machine HP N4000 with eight proces-
sors and 8 GB of RAM.
5. Denition of the neural networks system
A system of parallel neural networks is designed to
evaluate the global behaviour of the stiened panels
versus the design variables. In this way, the computa-
tional costs of the optimisation procedure are consid-
erably reduced, because only a minimum number of
nite element analyses is required to generate the ex-
amples for the training and test sets of the neural net-
works.
5.1. Neural networks
The neural networks (NN) are a computing system
of simple processing elements, called nodes or units,
mutually connected by links and organised in series of
layers [1517]. Each node receives an input signal, that is
the weighted sum of its input links, and computes an
activation signal sent to the next layer along the output
links. The activation signal is computed in each node by
the denition of an inputoutput relation called transfer
function, while the interconnection scheme denes the
NN architecture.
The NN use neither classication criteria nor asso-
ciative rules and are not programmed to solve a specic
problem using physic equations and models, but they
use previously known examples to build a system of
nodes that learn how to solve a problem changing the
nature and the intensity of the input links. Consequently
one of the distinct characteristics of the NN is their
ability to learn and generalise from examples and to
adapt themselves to changing situations.
The NN used in the present investigation are multi
layers perceptron (MLP). The MLP consists of an input
layer, one or more hidden layers and an output layer.
They are feedforward NN, because the signals always
propagate from the rst to the last layer.
The training process involves a set of examples, the
training set, characterised by known outputs. The MLP
system adjusts its interconnection weight so to minimise
the RMS error between the known outputs of the
training set and the returned outputs of the system. The
choice of the right training tests is very important be-
cause they qualify the nal performances of the MLP.
The generalisation ability of the trained NN is estimated
through a certain number of verication examples, that
make up the test set.
5.2. Training and test sets
The training and test sets are dened inside the op-
timisation domain by changing the design variable val-
ues. The values of the design variables for each example
are chosen using a suitable algorithm, which guarantees
a random and homogeneous allocation inside the opti-
misation domain. In order to minimise the number of
nite element analyses and consequently the total CPU
time, 70 eigenvalue analyses are performed to obtain the
buckling load and 55 dynamic analyses are performed to
obtain the load versus displacement curves. The collapse
load and the displacements in correspondence to the
buckling load and the collapse load are read on the
loaddisplacement curve.
The nite element analyses are then divided between
the training and the test sets. In particular the training
set consists of 54 eigenvalue analyses and 45 dynamic
240 C. Bisagni, L. Lanzi / Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247
analyses, while the test set consists of the remaining 16
eigenvalue analyses and 10 dynamic analyses.
5.3. Architecture of the NN system
The aim is to design a NN system able to reproduce
the global behaviour of the structure in the optimisation
domain. The design of a single NN, that is able to
evaluate at the same time all the structural responses
required in the optimisation procedure, seems incom-
patible with the need to maintain the nite element ana-
lyses as limited as possible. Consequently, in order to
obtain better performances and to reduce the training
and test sets, a system of dierent NN is designed.
The optimisation phase requires the knowledge of
dierent structural responses even in the post-buckling
eld. In particular the structural responses, which must
be returned by the NN system, are the buckling load, the
initial stiness and the collapse load. Since the use of
only these structural indices seems a bit restrictive cri-
terion to compare the performances of dierent stiened
panels congurations, another NN is designed to re-
produce the whole load versus displacement curve.
To improve the speed and the eciency of the
learning phase, the input and output data are scaled. In
this way, the weight values are maintained of the same
magnitude order throughout the node layers and
the input values of each node fall in a region where the
transfer function results more sensitive. Indeed, the
transfer functions used in the MLP are upper and lower
limited between )1 and 1. In particular, the input data
are linearly scaled between 0 and 1 using the simple
function:
x X X
min
=X
MAX
X
min
3
where x is the scaled value of the design variable vector
X, X
min
and X
MAX
are the minimum and maximum
values of the optimisation domain respectively, reported
in Table 2. The output data are linearly scaled between 0
and 1 in the same way. Also the displacement vector
needed to dene the load displacement curve is scaled.
Fixed equal to 4.5 mm the maximum imposed edge
displacement, D
MAX
, and built the displacement vector
D considering 100 points equally spaced from zero to
the maximum displacement value, the scaled displace-
ment vector d is given by
d D=D
MAX
4
Fig. 3 shows the adopted NN architecture, that is im-
plemented in Matlab [18]. A number of two or three
parallel NN are used to evaluate the buckling load, the
collapse load and the corresponding displacements.
Another NN is designed to calculate the load versus
displacement curve. The nal values are obtained put-
ting all the outputs together into a nal box.
P crx denotes the system that receives as input the
scaled vector x of the design variables and returns the
scaled buckling load value. P crx uses two MLP
neural networks, net1 a and net1 b, trained by means
of the LevenbergMarquardt backpropagation learning
rule. The architecture of these two NN is described in
Table 3. The maximum error of the buckling load values
obtained by P crx compared to the ones obtained by
the nite element analyses of the training and test set is
Table 3
NN description
Name First line Second line Third line
Nodes Function Nodes Function Nodes Function
net1 a 6 Hyperbolic
tangent
1 Linear
net1 b 4 Hyperbolic
tangent
2 Hyperbolic
tangent
1 Linear
net2 a 3 Hyperbolic
tangent
3 Hyperbolic
tangent
1 Linear
net2 b 4 Hyperbolic
tangent
3 Hyperbolic
tangent
1 Linear
net3 a 3 Hyperbolic
tangent
3 Hyperbolic
tangent
1 Linear
net3 b 4 Hyperbolic
tangent
4 Hyperbolic
tangent
1 Linear
net4 a 4 Hyperbolic
tangent
1 Linear
net4 b 3 Hyperbolic
tangent
3 Hyperbolic
tangent
1 Linear
net4 c 4 Hyperbolic
tangent
2 Hyperbolic
tangent
1 Linear
NET 8 Hyperbolic
tangent
24 Hyperbolic
tangent
1 Linear
Fig. 3. NN system conguration.
C. Bisagni, L. Lanzi / Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247 241
lower than 7%, as shown in the error graph reported in
Fig. 4. From Fig. 4 it is also possible to notice that more
than 75% of the examples both of the training and the
test sets present an error within 4%.
P cox denotes the system that receives as input the
scaled vector x of the design variables and returns the
scaled collapse load value. Even P cox uses two MLP
neural networks, net2 a and net2 b, trained by means of
the LevenbergMarquardt learning rule. Their archi-
tecture is described in Table 3. The maximum error of
the collapse load values obtained by P cox compared
to the ones obtained by the nite element analyses of the
training and test sets is lower than 7% and it is obtained
from the training set, as shown in the error graph re-
ported in Fig. 4. Besides, more than 75% of the examples
both of the training and the test set present an error
within 5%.
Similar performances are obtained as far as concerns
the displacement corresponding to the buckling load,
evaluated by D crx. D crx consists of two MLP
neural networks, net3 a and net3 b, whose architecture is
described in Table 3. Also in this case net3 a and net3 b
are trained using the LevenbergMarquardt backprop-
agation learning rule. The maximum error of the dis-
placement values at the buckling loads obtained by
D crx compared to the ones obtained by the nite el-
ement analyses, as showed in Fig. 4, is lower than 7%
and it is obtained on the test set. In this case, 75% of the
training set examples present an error lower than 4%,
while 75% of the test set examples present an error lower
than 5%.
The response of the system D cox appears a little
bit less accurate. D cox returns the displacement
corresponding to the collapse load and it consists of
three MLP neural networks, net4 a, net4 b and net4 c,
trained using the LevenbergMarquardt backpropaga-
tion learning rule, whose architecture is reported in
Table 3. The maximum error of the displacement values
at the collapse load obtained by D cox compared to
the ones obtained by the nite element analyses is lower
than 10%, as showed in Fig. 4. The errors of the training
and test sets are distributed uniformly on the error
bands.
NETx; d is a single neural network that receives as
input the two scaled vectors, x and d; and returns the
load versus displacement curve. NETx; d is made of
three lines with respectively 8, 24 and 1 nodes, as re-
ported in Table 3. The learning phase of this neural
network is rather heavy from the computational point of
view because there are 256 weights and 33 basis. Con-
sequently the independent variables for the RMS error
minimisation are 289. However, the learning phase,
performed following the LevenbergMarquardt back-
propagation rule, is several orders of magnitude less
expensive than a nite element analysis.
In order to improve the systemperformances, P crx,
P cox, D crx, D cox and NETx; d are used to-
gether. Their responses are then passed as inputs to
BOX. . ., that evaluates at rst the buckling load,
the collapse load and the corresponding displacements
upon the load versus displacement curve returned by
NETx; d. Then it compares the obtained values to the
values returned by P crx, P cox, D crx and D cox
and nds the nal values as a weighted average. After
this the load versus displacement curve is redrawn.
The NN system is able to reproduce accurately the
behaviour of the analysed structures. The knowledge of
the approximate load versus displacement curve and of
the local values as the buckling load, the collapse load
and the corresponding displacements, allow the required
constraint evaluations.
6. Genetic algorithms
GA are optimisation algorithms [19] based on the
natural evolution concept coming from Darwins theory
of evolution. The natural selection increase the surviving
capabilities of a population over the generations. The
genetic informations of each individual are stored in a
chromosomal string (DNA) and the goodness of the
individual is measured by dening a tness function
based on the DNA. Only the individuals with better
characteristics survive during the evolutionary process
so that the tness function is maximised.
The constrained minimisation problem, reported
previously in Eq. (2), is transformed into an uncon-
strained maximisation problem, dening the tness
function as the reciprocal of the panel weight multiplied
by the penalty functions:
Fitnessx
Y
mx; c
i

i
1
W x
5
Fig. 4. NN errors on the training and test sets.
242 C. Bisagni, L. Lanzi / Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247
where x represents the DNA of the structure, W x the
panel weight, mx; c
i

i
, i 1; . . . ; 3 three dierent expo-
nential penalty functions used to evaluate the con-
straints upon the buckling load, c
1
, the collapse load, c
2
,
and the pre-buckling stiness, c
3
, respectively, and
Q
mx; c
i

i
represents the product of the three penalty
functions.
The GA used in the present investigation are imple-
mented in Matlab [14]. Only three basic genetic opera-
tors are used: selection, crossover and mutation. The
selection operator produces or eliminates the members
characterised by high or low tness values, respectively.
A common approach is to assign a probability of se-
lection on the basis of the tness function to each
member of an initial population. The crossover process
allows the exchange of the characteristics among a se-
lected set of the population. In general two members,
called parents, are chosen among the initial population
and their DNA is randomly combined bearing two new
members, called children. The mutation operator is in-
troduced to safeguard the process from a premature loss
of genetic information during crossover. In particular a
few members of the population are chosen and their
DNA is randomly changed according to a probability of
mutation.
A single binary string 16 bits long codies the genetic
information of any member of the population in a given
generation. The rst two bits describe the lay-up of the
skin, then three bits represent the number of layers, nine
bits the side dimension of the stieners and the last two
bits take into account their number.
7. Optimisation results
The optimisation problem is formulated in order to
nd the number of layers at 45 in the skin of the
panel, the number of layers in the stieners, the side
dimension of the stieners as well as their number so to
minimise the weight of the panel subject to the following
constraints:
P
cr
X > 75 kN
P
co
X > 135 kN
S
pb
X > 120 kN=mm
8
<
:
6
The values of the minimum buckling load and collapse
load are evaluated considering panels made of alumin-
ium alloy and actually used in helicopter eld. With
these constraints, a panel conguration characterised by
a post-buckling eld with local skin buckling between
the stieners till the collapse load and by an high ratio
between the collapse load and the buckling load is ex-
pected.
7.1. Optimised conguration
The genetic search is performed with an initial popu-
lation of 40 members, generated randomly inside the
optimisation domain. The probability of crossover and
mutation are xed to 0.75 and 0.05, respectively.
The GA converged after 19 generations and required
760 tness function evaluations.
The optimised panel is characterised by a weight of
18.98 N and presents three layers at 45 in the skin, six
stieners, seven layers in the stieners and side dimen-
sions of the stieners equal to 24.5 mm.
The solution obtained using the NN system is veried
by means of nite element analyses using ABAQUS.
The buckling load is calculated by an eigenvalue ana-
lysis while the load versus displacement curve is ob-
tained by a dynamic analysis.
The optimised conguration is characterised by a
ratio between the collapse load and the buckling load
equal to 2.05 and satises the imposed constraints as
reported in Table 4, where the dierences between the
NN system and the nite element analysis are also re-
ported. The NN response shows a good approximation
level if compared to the values obtained performing
the validation nite element analyses. A direct com-
parison of the load versus displacement curves obtained
Table 4
Optimised conguration
Panel weight (N) 18.98
Panel behaviour Con-
straints
FE ana-
lysis
NN sys-
tem
% Dier-
ence
Buckling load (kN) >75 79.94 79.3 0.8
Collapse load (kN) >135 164.5 162.5 1.2
Pre-buckling
stiness (kN/mm)
>120 124.7 129.8 4.1
Displacement at the
buckling load (mm)
0.641 0.611 4.7
Fig. 5. Comparison between the load versus displacement curves ob-
tained by NN system and nite element analysis.
C. Bisagni, L. Lanzi / Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247 243
respectively by the NN system and by the non-linear
dynamic analysis is presented in Fig. 5.
Fig. 6 shows the deformed shape evolution, obtained
by the non-linear nite element analysis, with a magni-
cation factor equal to 4. It is possible to see that the
post-buckling eld is characterised by a local skin buck-
ling between the stieners before the collapse.
The adopted optimisation procedure based on the
GA coupled with the NN system has allowed a con-
siderable reduction of the total computational costs.
Indeed, to nd the optimal conguration, 55 nite ele-
ment non-linear analyses were performed in a total CPU
time of about 660 h using a parallel machine HP N4000
with eight processors and 8 GB of RAM. To this it must
be added the CPU time required by the neural networks
training processes and all the optimisation runs, that is
comparable to a single nite element analysis. In com-
parison, a direct optimisation, that uses directly the -
nite element analyses to evaluate the objective function
coupled with GA would have required about 760 dif-
ferent simulations, that means about 9480 h of CPU
times.
7.2. Failure considerations on the optimised conguration
One of the most critical aspects of structural opti-
misation problems involving composite materials con-
cerns the introduction of verication and design criteria
considering failure and progressive damage mecha-
nisms. So, even if during the optimisation procedure no
failure and damage constraints were directly considered,
the optimised panel conguration is then veried to
check that there was no failure in the post-buckling eld
before the collapse load.
A non-linear dynamic nite element analysis is then
performed on the optimised structure adopting the Tsai
Hill failure criterion [2022] as available in ABAQUS
[13].
According to the TsaiHill criterion, a failure index
(here indicated as F) is dened, once known the strength
values of the material rr
ij
:
F
r
2
11
rr
2
11

r
11
r
22
rr
2
11

r
2
22
rr
2
22

r
2
12
rr
2
12
7
Local failures happen when the failure index F becomes
>1. The verication analysis shows that the failure index
of the nal conguration is lower than 1 till the collapse
load as reported in Fig. 7, where the contour of the
failure index F is plotted. Consequently the obtained
conguration results able to work in the entire post-
buckling eld without any local failure. From Fig. 7, it is
also possible to see that the most critical areas in the
post-buckling eld moves from the skin to the stieners.
The structural collapse happens for buckling of the
Fig. 6. Deformed shape evolution of the optimised panel.
244 C. Bisagni, L. Lanzi / Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247
stieners and the failure occurs in the stieners blades
and anges due to high bending and shear deformations.
7.3. Weight reduction considerations
The main advantage of the optimisation procedure
here presented is the complete separation between the
system modelling and the optimisation problem. In this
way it is possible to run dierent optimisations changing
either constraints or objective functions without any
other nite element analysis. Indeed, the trained system
of parallel NN is able to reproduce the behaviour of the
structural component.
This advantage is used here to compare the obtained
optimised conguration, able to work in the post-
buckling eld with a local skin buckling between the
stieners, to a second conguration obtained under the
hypothesis that the panel remains in the pre-buckling
eld until the collapse load.
This second optimisation is performed in order to
minimise the panel weight, subjected to two dierent
constraints. The rst constraint is on the buckling load
that must be higher than the collapse load, equal to 135
kN, and the second constraint is on the initial stiness
that must be higher than 120 kN/mm. The genetic search
is performed with an initial population of 40 members
and probability of crossover and mutation equal to 0.75
and 0.05 respectively.
This second panel optimised conguration is charac-
terised by a weight of 23.26 N and presents four layers at
45 in the skin, six stieners, 10 layers in the stieners
and side dimensions of the stieners equal to 22 mm.
As reported in Table 5, the conguration meets the
initial design requirements and also in this case the NN
Fig. 7. Failure identication with TsaiHill criterion.
C. Bisagni, L. Lanzi / Composite Structures 58 (2002) 237247 245
response shows a good approximation level if compared
to the values obtained by the validation nite element
analyses. Comparing the rst optimised conguration,
where a local skin buckling between the stieners is
allowed, to this second conguration, the reduction
in weight is equal to 18%. It is so possible to take
advantage from the post-buckling eld to reduce sig-
nicantly the structural weight of stiened composite
structures.
8. Conclusions
A procedure for the post-buckling optimisation of
composite stiened panels is here presented. Due to the
presence of integer variables, as the number of stieners
and the panel lay-up, the use of genetic algorithms ap-
pears particularly protable, but their direct application
together with non-linear nite element analyses result
unfortunately too expensive from a computational point
of view. The proposed procedure, based on a global
approximation, strongly reduces the total computa-
tional time required for the strategy of the optimisation,
where the non-linear nite element analyses are replaced
by a system of MLP neural networks. Besides, the use of
a system of several parallel NN allows to obtain not
only specic structural indices, such as the buckling
load, the collapse load and the corresponding displace-
ments, but also the whole approximate load versus dis-
placement curve.
Another advantage oered by this approach is the
complete separation between the system modelling and
the optimisation problem. In this way it is possible to
run dierent optimisations changing the minimisation
algorithms, the constraint values or the objective func-
tion without any other nite element analysis. This
advantage is here used to compare the optimised con-
guration, able to work in the post-buckling eld with a
local skin buckling between the stieners, to a second
conguration obtained under the hypothesis that the
panel remains in the pre-buckling eld until the collapse
load. The results show that, where a local skin buckling
between the stieners is allowed, the reduction in weight
is equal to 18%. Allowing a local skin buckling seems so
a protable way to reduce signicantly the weight of
stiened composite structures.
The optimised conguration has been then veried
using the TsaiHill failure criterion to see that there
was no failure in the post-buckling eld before the col-
lapse load, even if during the optimisation procedure
no failure and damage constraints were directly con-
sidered.
The optimisation procedure appears exible and ap-
plicable to various engineering problems in which the
results are given by complex and expensive models and
a high number of analyses are necessary to reach a
suitable optimum.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Prof. Vittorio
Giavotto for his generous advises and Prof. Sergio Ricci
for the useful discussions on the formulation of the
optimisation problem. The support provided by the
European Commission, Competitive and Sustainable
Growth Programme, Contract No. G4RD-CT-1999-
00103, project Improved Postbuckling Simulation
for Design of Fibre Composite Stiened Structures
(POSICOSS) is gratefully acknowledged.
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Table 5
Comparison conguration without post-buckling eld
Panel weight (N) 23.26
Panel behaviour Con-
straints
FE
analysis
NN
system
% Dier-
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Pre-buckling stiness
(kN/mm)
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Displacement at the
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