Optimized laminations for submarine composite hulls

This work deals with the development of a numerical tool for the design of filament wound submersible composite cylinders. A genetic algorithm coupled with analytical shell models allows stacking sequences to be optimized in order to increase the buckling pressures. The examples presented concern IFREMER's current studies and characteristic lamination patterns have been obtained. FEM calculations confirm the gains corresponding to the solutions obtained. The robustness of the optimized laminations is attentively studied. The performances of the optimization procedure are also discussed.