Structure Design of the 3-D Braided Composite Based on a Hybrid Optimization Algorithm

Three-dimensional braided composite has the better designable characteristic. Whereas wide application of hollow-rectangular-section three-dimensional braided composite in engineering, optimization design of the three-dimensional braided composite made by 4-step method were introduced. Firstly, the stiffness and damping characteristic analysis of the composite is presented. Then, the mathematical models for structure design of the three-dimensional braided composite were established. The objective functions are based on the specific damping capacity and stiffness of the composite. The design variables are the braiding parameters of the composites and sectional geometrical size of the composite. The optimization problem is solved by using ant colony optimization (ACO), contenting the determinate restriction. The results of numeral examples show that the better damping and stiffness characteristic could be obtained. The method proposed here is useful for the structure design of the kind of member and its engineering application.