Currently in the process of publishing a major article; a past project that focused on optimizing composite layer stacks.

The problem is that you have a composite layer stack under load for which you would like to determine the optimal orientation of the layers. Why is this important?

Over the years, I have repeatedly talked to engineers in companies about how they determine the orientation of the layers. The answer was always a variation of: “empirical experience.” In other words, there’s no detailed design analysis carried out, but they are rather stacked together in a conservative way, blindly, to ensure that it holds.

This raises two issues:

First, it shows that they do not have a thorough understanding of these composite layup stacks (mathematically, mechanically, etc.). Second, it means that potential is being wasted: potential for weight reduction and potential for cost savings.

Lightweight design fascinates me because it allows us to push the boundaries of what is possible. Part of what I understand by lightweight design is that we can control, determine, and master structures and thus exploit their potential to the full.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay