Original article

Proc IMechE Part L:

J Materials: Design and Applications
Cross-section optimization of thin-walled 1–16
© IMechE 2021
open-section composite column for Article reuse guidelines:
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maximizing its ultimate strength DOI: 10.1177/14644207211046264
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Prashant K Choudhary1 , Prashanta K Mahato1 and Prasun Jana2

Abstract
This paper focuses on the optimization of thin-walled open cross-section laminated composite column subjected to uni-
axial compressive load. The cross-section of the column is parameterized in such a way that it can represent a variety of
shapes including most of the regular cross-sections such as H, C, T, and I sections. The objective is to obtain the best
possible shape of the cross-section, by keeping a constant total material volume, which can maximize the ultimate
load carrying capacity of the column. The ultimate strength of the column is determined by considering both buckling
instability and material failure. For material failure, Tsai-Wu composite failure criterion is considered. As analytical solu-
tions for these parameterized column models are not tractable, the ultimate loads of the composite columns are com-
puted through finite-element analysis in ANSYS. And, the optimization is carried out by coupling these finite-element
results with a genetic algorithm based optimization scheme developed in MATLAB. The optimal result obtained through
this study is compared with an equivalent base model of cruciform cross-section. Results are reported for various lengths
and boundary conditions of the columns. The comparison shows that a substantial increase of the ultimate load, as high as
610%, can be achieved through this optimization study. Thus, the present paper highlights some important characteristics
of open cross-sections that can be useful in the design of thin-walled laminated column structures.

Keywords
Open cross-section column, composite material, geometrically nonlinear buckling analysis, Tsai-Wu failure criteria,
optimization, finite-element analysis
Date received: 31 May 2021; accepted: 27 August 2021

Introduction length, the column when subjected to compressive load

Thin-walled composite columns are widely used in the
design of modern light-weight structures that are
employed in various engineering fields such as aerospace,
civil, mechanical, and marine engineering.1 Open cross-
section columns are usually preferred in the design of
several structural components including metal building
construction, offshore structures, design of wind turbine
blades, tilt rotor blades, and so on. Over the past few
decades, it has been observed that composite materials
are used over traditional isotropic materials for making
these column structures. The most apparent reason being
their tremendous weight saving, increased performance,
and design flexibility.2 As an example, aircraft Boeing
787 Dreamliner is the first airplane to have most of the
components, including the fuselage, wings, and the air-
frame, made from composite materials.3
Failure of these thin-walled open-section composite
columns is mainly governed by two failure mechanisms:
buckling and stress-competitive failure. Firstly, as the
thickness of the column is very small compared to its
is susceptible to static instability or buckling failure.4
Furthermore, the reason for this instability for relatively
shorter column is due to its lower torsional rigidity than
its bending stiffness, resulting torsional buckling in the
structure. Therefore, for an open cross-section composite
column, the critical load for buckling failure lies between
the pure torsional mode and the pure flexural mode.
Hence, for any general shaped open cross-section
column, buckling may occur due to a combined torsional-
flexure mode. Secondly, if the stresses developed within
the column exceed the material strength, the column
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology
(Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad, India
2
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology
Kharagpur, India
Corresponding author:
Prashant K Choudhary, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian
Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, Jharkhand-
826004, India.
Email:prashantkumarchoudhary01@gmail.com
 Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures

ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/umcm20

Optimization of surface-profile of orthotropic

cylindrical shell for maximizing its ultimate
strength

Prashant Kumar Choudhary, Prashanta K. Mahato & Prasun Jana

To cite this article: Prashant Kumar Choudhary, Prashanta K. Mahato & Prasun Jana (2021):
Optimization of surface-profile of orthotropic cylindrical shell for maximizing its ultimate strength,
Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures, DOI: 10.1080/15376494.2021.1939205

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15376494.2021.1939205

Published online: 01 Jul 2021.

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MECHANICS OF ADVANCED MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES
https://doi.org/10.1080/15376494.2021.1939205

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Optimization of surface-profile of orthotropic cylindrical shell for maximizing

its ultimate strength
Prashant Kumar Choudharya , Prashanta K. Mahatoa , and Prasun Janab
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, India; bDepartment of Aerospace
Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

An optimization strategy has been developed to determine the optimal surface-profile of a uni- Received 27 January 2021
form thickness orthotropic shell for maximizing its ultimate load-carrying capacity. Ultimate load is Accepted 1 June 2021
obtained by considering both buckling and Tsai-Wu failure criteria. A parametric model of the
KEYWORDS
laminated cylindrical shell is created in ANSYS to compute the ultimate load. Later, this finite
Cylindrical shell;
element computation is coupled with MATLAB to obtain the optimal design parameters. It is imperfection; nonlinear
shown that the optimal shapes, obtained for several loading conditions, can result in remarkable buckling analysis;
improvement in the ultimate strength in comparison to the base model of a circular cylin- optimization; orthotropic
drical shell. material; surface-profiles

1. Introduction Neglecting the effect of imperfections in the calculation of

Thin-walled composite shell structures present immense
structural and architectural potential in various fields of
aerospace, civil, mechanical, and marine engineering due to
their high specific strength and specific stiffness properties.
In aerospace engineering, shell forms are widely used in air-
craft, launch vehicle and spacecraft structural components
[1]. Few other shell forms such as curved panels, piping sys-
tems, pressure vessels, ship hulls, and submarines are exten-
sively used in mechanical, civil and marine engineering [2].
Note that these thin composite shells have spatially curved
surface profiles. And, the strength of these shells against any
externally applied load is predominantly derived from their
geometrical shape and support conditions. When subjected
to various compressive loads, a consequence of the relatively
small thickness is that these thin-walled shell structures
must be designed by criteria governed by both buckling [3]
and strength failure [4, 5]. As these failures might be cata-
strophic in nature, optimal design of the lateral surface-
profile of a cylindrical shell that gives maximum resistance
against these buckling as well as strength failures remains an
important problem in the design stage of these thin-walled
shell type structures [6]. It is also important to note that, in
real application, these thin-walled shell structures are highly
sensitive to the presence of any imperfection that may be
resulted from a slight variation either in the material com-
position or in the geometry of the structure. Due to these
imperfections, these structures will fail at lower load than
the estimated failure load by assuming a perfect structure [7,
8]. Therefore, it is very important to consider imperfections
while designing these thin-walled composite shell structures.
failure load may lead to an unsafe design.
It is evident from the literature (see below for a brief lit-
erature review) that the surface-profile of the laminated
cylindrical shell has a profound effect on the failure charac-
teristics of the structure. However, identification of the best
surface-profile of the shell that provides the maximum
strength (or the ultimate strength) against both buckling
and strength failure is not an easy task. Therefore, the
primary objective of this paper is to develop a formal opti-
mization routine to arrive at an optimal design for the sur-
face-profile of the shell that provides the highest possible
ultimate strength. The optimization scheme is developed
within MATLAB which interacts iteratively with the finite
element computation of a parametrically generated finite
element model of the shell in ANSYS. Further, this scheme
uses Genetic Algorithm (GA), a built-in optimization tool in
MATLAB, for obtaining the optimal shape of the lateral sur-
face of the laminated shell. The main reason for adopting
the finite element based optimization scheme is as follows.
It is quite evident that analytical solutions are available for
the computation of ultimate failure load of very specific shell
geometries e.g. circular (constant curvature) cylinder and
some selective shell forms. In this study, the focus is to
obtain an optimal design for the surface-profile of the shell.
Hence, as potential candidates, many non-circular cylindrical
shell configurations have to be considered. Analytical solu-
tions for those fairly arbitrary non-circular cylindrical shells
are either unavailable or intractable. Therefore, for these
complex surface-profiles of shell, a finite element solution is
usually the only viable tool for calculating the ultimate load.

CONTACT Prasun Jana prasun@aero.iitkgp.ac.in Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West
Bengal721302, India.
ß 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Steel and Composite Structures, Vol . 29, No. 1 (2018) 39-51
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/scs.2018.29.1.039 39

Position optimization of circular/elliptical cutout within

an orthotropic rectangular plate for maximum buckling load
∗
Prashant K. Choudhary a and Prasun Jana

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad-826004, India

(Received February 9, 2018, Revised July 26, 2018, Accepted August 3, 2018)

Abstract. 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.
Keywords: rectangular plate; orthotropic material; cutout; buckling analysis; optimization

1. Introduction optimal location parameters in orthotropic plates that

Thin-walled plate type structures made of orthotropic
materials constitute very important structural components in
many engineering applications, especially in aerospace,
mechanical and civil industries. For efficient design
purposes there is a need to introduce holes or cutouts into
these structures. The presence of these cutout openings
changes the stress distribution within these perforated
structures and thereby results in variations in the internal
stress distributions. Under excessive compressive loading
these plate structures will undergo buckling instability
which results in loss of structural stiffness and thereby
reduction in the load bearing capacity of the structure
(Leissa 1987, Zhang and Yang 2009, Larsson 1987),
Nemeth 1988).
In this paper, we study linear buckling of a thin
orthotropic rectangular plate that contains a single
circular/elliptical cutout. The plate is simply supported at all
four edges and subjected to uniform uniaxial in-plane
compressive edge loads. Our aim is to employ a formal
optimization algorithm to obtain the true optimal design
parameters (e.g., location and orientation) of the cutout and
maximize the critical buckling load.
We note that the existing literature (see below for a brief
literature review) does talk about the influence of cutout
position on the critical buckling load of orthotropic plates.
However, to the best of our knowledge, no work seems to
adopt a formal optimization scheme for determining the
∗Corresponding author, Ph.D., Assistant Professor,
E-mail: prasunjana@gmail.com; prasun@aero.iitkgp.ac.in
a parameters of the plate, and on the size of the cutouts.
Ph.D. Student,
E-mail: prashantkumarchoudhary01@gmail.com
Copyright © 2018 Techno-Press, Ltd.
http://www.techno-press.org/?journal=scs&subpage=6
maximize the critical buckling load.
A common observation in the studies reported in the
literature is that the location and orientation of cutout within
the structure have been chosen first and then the buckling
load has been obtained (Qablan et al. 2009, Narayana et al.
2013). In contrast to that, in this work, we have developed
an optimization scheme for obtaining the optimal location
and orientation of the cutout within a perforated orthotropic
plate for maximum critical buckling load. The perforated
plate is first modeled parametrically in finite element
analysis software ANSYS for buckling load calculation and
then these buckling results were coupled with a MATLAB
optimization routine to find the true optimal cutout
parameters. We note that for the computation of critical
buckling load of the plate, with cutout at some arbitrary
position, a finite element solution is only viable as the
analytical solution in this case is either unavailable or
intractable. Therefore, the novelty of the present work lies
in the development of the MATLAB optimization scheme
that interacts with the ANSYS buckling computation for
orthotropic plate in each iteration and produces the optimal
cutout position as final outcome of this optimization run.
Optimization study for the buckling of an isotropic plate
having a single circular cutout has been published recently
by one of the authors of this article (Jana 2016). In this
paper, the study has been extended to the optimal design of
both circular and elliptical cutouts within the orthotropic
plates. We have considered both symmetric cross-ply
(0° /90° )2𝑠𝑠 and angle-ply (30° /−60° )2𝑠𝑠 laminated plates.
The study shows that the optimal position of cutout for the
maximum buckling load has great dependence on the
material properties, laminate sequence, geometrical
These optimal results are reported in this paper, using tables
and graphs, for a number of plate geometries and cutout
ISSN: 1229-9367 (Print), 1598-6233 (Online)
NFEST IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1240 (2019) 012084 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1240/1/012084

Optimal location of cutout within a cross-ply

laminated cantilever beam for maximum lateral
buckling load
Prashant Kumar Choudhary1 , PK Mahato1 and Prasun Jana2
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of
Mines), Dhanbad, 826004, Jharkhand, India
E-mail: prashantkumarchoudhary01@gmail.com (Prashant Kumar Choudhary)
2
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 721302,
West bengal, India

Abstract. This paper deals with the location optimization of a cutout within a laminated
cantilever beam for maximizing the lateral buckling load. Various shapes of cutout, such
as circular, elliptical, triangular, are generally used in structural components as a design
requirement or sometime to reduce the overall weight of the structures. In this study, a laminated
cantilever beam, with a single cutout, is considered. The beam is subjected to a concentrated
load at the free end. The objective is to obtain the optimal location of the cutout which resist
maximum lateral buckling load. For this an optimization routine has been used in which a
finite element calculation of critical lateral buckling load in ANSYS is coupled with an in-built
global optimization tool (Genetic Algorithm) in MATLAB. The optimal results are reported
for various cases arising from change of geometry and material properties of the plate. It has
been concluded that the position of cutout in the laminated beam plays a significant role while
designing against lateral buckling load.

1. Introduction
Composite materials, due to their desirable characteristics such as low weight and high strength,
are widely used in engineering applications such as aerospace component, shipping industries,
automotive parts and defence application [1]. It has been also found that thin beam made up
of composite materials are used as structural components in these engineering structures. Of-
ten, these structural components are subjected to various types of loading e.g. lateral, axial,
torsional loads. Due to these loads, beams are likely to fail due to buckling instability. When a
laminated beam is subjected to loads that are perpendicular to the beams axis, the beam will
have lateral displacement in the downward direction and it might become unstable in a twisting
mode. In this twisting mode the cross-section rotate about the beam axis. This is termed as
the lateral buckling of the beam. The load at which buckling occurs is called the critical lateral
buckling load. For design requirement, these structures are often provided with cutout or hole to
provide access for inspection, electric lines and fuel lines etc. Therefore, study of lateral buckling
characteristics of composite beam with cutout is necessary in the design process of the structure.

In the literature, many research papers can be found that investigate the effect of cutout on

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