Fibre Reinforced Composite (FRP) materials are
being employed as primary load carrying
members in aerospace structures in view of
the advantages they offer as compared to
metallic structures. This is because, the fibre
orientation in each lamina can be chosen
depending on the designer's requirements.
This results in changes material properties
which are direction dependent unlike in
metallic materials, which are direction
independent. Substantial amount of
composites are used in Light Combat Aircraft
(LCA), Advance Light Helicopter (ALH) and the
two seater trainer aircraft (HANSA). This has
resulted in substantial savings in structural
weight in-view of their high strength to weight
ratio and high stiffness to weight ratio. The
advantages can be further improved, provided
these materials are used optimally. The author
and his research students have contributed
significantly to the literature on optimum
design of FRP laminates
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