Modeling Of Inflatable Thin-Membrane Structures And Simulation Analysis Of The Deployment Process

Space inflatable structures, which have some prominent advantages in space exploration, such as small launched volume and mass, high dependability of deployment, can be used to build large space antennas, solar sails, and other large space structures.The ground test of inflatable structures can hardly reflect a real work environment in space because of the effect of the gravity and atmospheric pressure. And tiny gravity and vacuum can hardly be satisfied at the same time. Moreover, the cost of the space testing is prohibitive expensive. Therefore, it is necessary to study the computer simulation to predict the inflatable deployment process.Firstly, this paper discusses the non-linear problems of contact, penalty function method and basic principle of control volume method in the process of inflatable deployment. Then the model of inflatable cylindrical tubes is built with ANSYS, two kinds of folding models are established, which are of Z-fold and spiral fold. The simulations of the inflatable deployment process are done respectively. The two kinds of folding models are compared, and the analysis of the impacts of different rates to the deployment process is done.Secondly, the modeling of folding not-developable structures is studied, and based on the analysis of pressing, a new modeling method is proposed, which is called double folding method, the folding model of the parabolic reflector is built. We achieve the simulation of inflatable deployment and compare the deployment process with the flatten analysis method. The results show that this method is feasible.Finally, this paper summarizes the results of researches, and raises its own outlook for subsequent studies.