2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Fundamental study of hybrid deployable structures composed of inflatable membrane and elastic beams

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23760765
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Aerospace engineering
Research Institution	The University of Tokyo
Principal Investigator	OGI Yoshiro 東京大学, 生産技術研究所, 特任講師 (00512005)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2013
Keywords	航空宇宙工学 / 展開構造物 / 空気膜 / インフレータブル構造物 / 機械要素 / 建築構造 / 弾性梁 / 再現性
Research Abstract	A structural concept to incorporate elastic beams permitting large deformation in a membrane is proposed to stabilize its large displacement behavior. As a specific model of the hybrid structure, an inflatable coilable mast, composed of an inflatable tube and elastic beams, is investigated. Retraction and deployment experiments of four kinds of models clarified important design parameters. And in the experiments, one model could retract compactly. Numerical analysis technique for such structures is also established in this research. Numerical calculations showed that incorporating elastic beams improved the shape repeatability during retraction and deployment. Furthermore, it was found that the method could preliminarily estimate the state of membrane.