 |
Composite materials are often used in the automotive industry to reduce acoustic vibrations and
the sound pressure in a car by the use of damping patches or changing car part fabrication. The
material make-up of these composites plays a big role in the effectiveness of damping treatments
and is therefore a large focus in the vehicle design process. In this study, a genetic algorithm
(GA) is used to test the different configurations of laminated composite structures and is compared
with the results of a particle swarm optimization (PSO) and gradient-based algorithms
that are performed with the same design variables. Aiming at producing a composite structure
containing a high modal loss factor, the design variables are considered as: 1) viscoelastic material
thickness, 2) fiber orientation angle, and 3) carbon layer thickness. The ultimate goal of
the designed composite structure is to create the optimal balance between minimum vibrations
and a minimum mass of the structure.
