Scott Owen Peck, PhD
A strategy for the design of laminated composite materials and sandwich structures based on the invariant properties of constituent materials and the invariant properties of design goals is proposed. The use of first order invariants establishes the feasibility of designs and separates linear from nonlinear design variables. The invariant length of second and fourth order tensors is proposed as a suitable criterion for finding layup angles as a minimization problem. Examples from thermal expansion, in-plane stiffness of a laminate, and bending stiffness design problems are given for illustration. Issues related to physical bounds on admissible material properties are discussed in the context of the new design method