Optimal material orientation of linear and non-linear elastic 3D anisotropic materials

Optimal material orientation problems of linear and non-linear elastic three-dimensional anisotropic materials are studied. Most commonly, the energy based formulation is applied for solving orientational design problems of anisotropic materials, considering elastic energy density as a measure of the stress strain state. The same approach is used in the current study, but the strength criteria based approaches are also discussed. A simple relation between the stationary conditions in terms of Euler angles and the optimality conditions in terms of strains is pointed out. The complexity analysis of the different existing optimality conditions has been performed. The solution of the posed optimization problem is decomposed into the strain level solution, search for global extremes and evaluation of Euler angles (parameters). The results obtained are extended to some nonlinear elastic material models.