Numerical Simulation And Tests Of Stowing And Deploying Process Of Thin-walled Tubular Space Booms

Space mast is one of the basic deployable space structures whichmake up of the basis to develop large deployable space structures, as isvery active research field. Thin-walled tubular space booms stores elasticstrain energy through the stowing on the ground, strain energy releasegradually on-orbit, shape rebound sequentially, restore to its initial form,and complete deployment until the final stable configuration. It has asimple structure, light weight, high deployment ratio and reliability. Thebasic research and application began in later of1960s in the United Statesand Russia. However, the new concept, theoretic and technologyresearches involved with large deployable space structures just began inthe early of1990s in China.Based on the stowing and deploying process of thin-walled tubularbooms, mechanical characteristics were studied and relevant test wereperformed. It contains numerical simulation of flattening by pulling andcompression, as well as test verifications, respectively.Firstly, the numerical simulation method was proposed for pullingand compression flattening of thin-walled tube from the work mechanism, and the comparative analysis were performed thoroughly for thestructural behavior, including the stress, strain and load-displacementvariation.Secondly, the test of thin-walled tube flattening by pulling andcompression were conducted, and the test results were verified withnumerical simulation. The detailed test mock-up and results are presented,such as strain, tip displacement. And the numerical simulation wasperformed for the test. The results indicate that the numerical simulationin chapter2is effective and correct. It was found that large displacementwith small strain appears while flattening. Meanwhile, the stress, strainand load-displacement vary similarly in the flattening by pulling andcompression.Finally, the numerical simulation was performed for two differentstowing and deploying process of thin-walled tubular booms with explicitdynamic method. Through the comparison analysis of the stress, strainand energy change of the composite layers in two different stowing anddeploying process, one can obtain the equivalent stress, shear stress andenergy variation rules. The fiber direction stress can be thought as keyfactor while designing the section of thin-walled tube.