Multi-objective blast resistant composite plate design optimization

Structural composite laminates have been used in many applications because of their high ultimate strength and strength-to-weight ratio. These features are attributed to their manufacturing flexibility, which allows composites to achieve material properties that are difficult to attain using single-phase materials. However, typical structural composites exhibit dominant debonding at weak interfaces leading to inability to absorb energy when subjected to blast events. This work examines the use of multi-objective optimization methods to design blast resistant composites. We consider the fundamental problem of a multi-layer composite plate subject to non-uniform blast loads. Layer constituency and layer thickness are optimized for an axi-symmetric layered plate to minimize weight subject to strength constraints. Finite Element (FE) analysis is used to obtain the plate response and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used to obtain temporal and spatial distributions of blast loading. A blast scenario simulation is considered based on different model parameters such as explosive weight, soil characteristics, depth of below ground placement and eccentricity Possible topological optimization of multi-phase composites to produce plate layers with desired constituency is also discussed.