AENGM0009 Research Development

AENGM0012 Research Skills

Matlab Assignment
Submission: 27 November 2015, 4pm
Alberto Pirrera and Matt ODonnell

z
b

q(x,y)

Figure 1: Thin plate subjected to uniform load.

Assignment
Consider the plate in figure 1, which is simply supported along all four edges,
subjected to a ramp load q(x, y) = q0 xa and made of an antisymmetric stacking
sequence.
Its transverse displacement field, w0 , can be found as a Navier-type solution
of the governing equation
D11

4 w0
4 w0
4 w0
+ 2(D12 + 2D66 ) 2 2 + D22
= q.
4
x
x y
y 4

In particular, it can be shown that

w0 =
where
Qmn =
and
dmn =

X
Qmn
mx
ny
sin
sin
,
d
a
b
n=1 m=1 mn

8q0 (1)m
2 mn

m = 1, 2, 3, . . .

n = 1, 3, 5, . . .



4
2
4
4b
2 2b
4
D
m
+
2(D
+
2D
)m
n
+
D
n
.
11
12
66
22
b4
a4
a2

You are tasked with writing the following Matlab routines:

1. A function to calculate the Classic Laminate Theory stiffness matrices

A, B, D (for generic laminates).
2. A function to calculate the location and maximum value of w0 for arbitrary a, b and q0 .
3. Using these functions, write a script to produce a convergence diagram
of the maximum value of w0 as a function of n and m.

Assessment
Accuracy of your code will be assessed via a Blackboard page, where you
will be asked to provide the results from the analysis of a specific system (i.e.
dimensions, material properties, stacking sequence, loading, etc., will be given).
This will be a pass/fail assessment, however you will have unlimited attempts
to validate your code.
The functions are to be written in the style of Matlabs built-in functions,
resembling a subroutine that is callable from an independent program. This
means providing clear inputs and outputs, together with internal documentation
on how to use the code, e.g. comments and docstrings.
You will also be expected to provide short user guides for the two functions.
You are permitted up to four pages in total. The guides should be in the style
of the Matlabs Help documents (See for instance fzero1 ), including examples
of usage and references to relevant literature. No user guide is required for the
script.
All codes and user guide must be submitted via the Blackboard submission
point: B1 Matlab Exercise Submission Point.
Finally, you will be asked to demonstrate and discuss your code and user
guides in an oral examination. Here, you will be assessed on the clarity, structure
and style of your code, together with your understanding of the principles of
programming and Matlab code vectorisation.
Assessment will be based on the following weightings:
User guide - clarity and completeness

40%

Code - ease of use

10%

Code - style/use of comments

20%

Code - data/program structure and code vectorisation

30%

N.B. There will be a penalty for codes that fail to pass the Blackboard
accuracy test. The penalty will be determined by your ability to explain your
debugging approach during the oral examination. Penalties will be up to 50%
of the overall mark.

Optional code development

Using Matlabs Genetic Algorithm implementation to search for the antisymmetric stacking sequence consisting of 10 plies that minimises the maximum
value of w0 . You can then compare your results with an exhaustive search to
check that the Genetic Algorithm has found the global optimum.
1 http://uk.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/fzero.html?searchHighlight=fzero