A technique for optimally designing fibre-reinforced laminated plates with manufacturing uncertainties for maximum buckling strength

This article describes a procedure to design symmetrically laminated plates for maximum buckling load with manufacturing uncertainty in the ply angle, which is the design variable. It is assumed that the probability of any tolerance value occurring within the tolerance band, compared with any other, is equal. The methodology is flexible enough to allow any appropriate problem formulation and search algorithm to be substituted. Three different tolerance scenarios are used for the purposes of illustrating the methodology, and plates with varying aspect ratios and loading ratios are optimally designed and compared.