Optimization of Hybrid Composite Laminate Based on the Frequency using Imperialist Competitive Algorithm

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Imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) is a new socio-politically motivated global search strategy. The ICA is applied to hybrid composite laminates to obtain minimum weight and cost. The approach which is chosen for conducting the multi-objective optimization was the weighted sum method (WSM). The hybrid composite Laminates are made of glass/epoxy and carbon/epoxy to combine the lightness and economical attributes of the first with high-stiffness property of the second in order to make trade-off between the cost and weight as the objective functions and natural flexural frequency as a constraint. The results were evaluated for different weighting factors (a) including optimum stacking sequences, and number of plies made of either glass or carbon fibers using the ICA, and were compared with those using the genetic algorithm (GA) and ant colony system (ACS). The comparisons confirmed the advantages of hybridization and revealed that the ICA outperformed the GA and ACS in terms of function’s value and constraint accuracy.