Modeling, Analysis and Testing of some Deployable/Inflatable Structures

NASA’s recent space programs require the use of many ultra-lightweight deployable/inflatable structures, but there are many modeling, analysis and testing problems. This paper presents a new modeling technique that uses Jaumann strains and stresses and new concepts of local displacements and orthogonal virtual rotations to derive geometrically exact structural theories for such Highly Flexible Structures (HFSs). Moreover, a total-Lagrangian finite element code GESA (Geometrically Exact Structural Analysis) is being developed by implementing these new structural theories for the modeling, analysis, and fast prototyping of HFSs. The modeling technique is described, and finite element results from GESA and numerically exact solutions from the use of a multiple shooting method are used to demonstrate nonlinear mechanics of HFSs. The use of buckling, self-locking, and other nonlinear phenomena in the design of mechanism-free deployable/inflatable structures is presented. Moreover, experimental verifications of nonlinear statics and dynamics of HFSs using a Polytec PI PSV-200 scanning laser vibrometer and a 3D motion analysis system are shown. Other challenging issues and applications of HFSs are also discussed.

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