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Minimizing the stress concentrations around cutouts in a plate is often a design problem, especially in the Aerospace industry. A problem of optimizing spatially varying fiber paths in a symmetric, linear orthotropic composite laminate with a cutout, so as to achieve minimum stress concentration under remote unidirectional tensile loading is of interest in this study. A finite element (FE) model is developed to this extent, which constraints the fiber angles while optimizing the fiber paths, proving essential in manufacturing processes. The idea to be presented could be used to derive fiber paths that would drastically reduce the Stress Concentration Factor (SCF) in a symmetric laminate by using spatially varying fibers in place of unidirectional fibers. The model is proposed for a four layer symmetric laminate, and can be easily reproduced for any number of layers.

This paper develops an equation for calculating the machining speed for a specified tool-life by the use of three constants: a tool life-tool shape constant; a work material constant; and a size of cut constant. Representative values for these constants are tabulated, and curves showing the analytical relationship between v60 and feed as well as v60 and depth of cut are included. Experimental tests were conducted to verify the relationships, and the data are plotted on the calculated curves. The correlation between the calculated values of cutting speed with the experimental obtained values is good.