BEHAVIOR OF A DEPOLYABLE STRUCTURE WITH COMPOSITE TAPE-SPRINGS

摘要

An innovative concept of a deployable boom made of composite tape-springs and novel flexible linear axis structural hinges (FLASH) is presented in this paper. The boom consists of periodic bay structures. Each bay structure has three longerons that are connected with battens. Diagonals can be added if higher torsional performance is required. The longerons are connected together with FLASH joints. The FLASH joint has two stable stages. The deployed stage is self-locking due to the curvature of the tape-spring longeron. In the stowed stage, the longerons are flattened. The structural performance of the boom including stiffness and strength was investigated by finite element analysis. It is found that the axial and bending strengths of the boom are comparable with other booms. The axial and flexural stiffnesses can be estimated only from the properties of the longerons. The battens or diagonals are not significant. The result also indicates that the ratio of bending strength and the product of axial strength and the effective radius of the boom is related to the shear support of the periodic bay structure.