Abstract For large spatially deployable membrane structures, efficient management methods such as origami methods were required to fold the membrane structures before launch. The folding process inevitably introduced creases in the membrane structure, the existence of which brought local geometric discontinuities and directly affected the mechanical properties of the membrane. In this study, the crease behaviour of membrane structure was investigated using the digital image correlation (DIC) method. DIC was employed to obtain the strain distributions and out-of-plane deformations of the creased membranes during unfolding process. The initial flat state of the creased membrane was defined according to the ratio of the tensile deformation energy in the total energy during unfolding. A three-dimensional crease model in the defined initial flat state was established by including four parameters, which were crease amplitude, crease width, crease angle and residual stress, and the relationships between parameters of the crease model were obtained by experimental results. A crease finite element model by using the hinge unit in ABAQUS was performed to verify the correctness of the parameter definitions in the crease model. The results both of experiment and simulation indicated that a concentrated residual stress remained in the crease region and its value and other crease parameters decreased with increasing initial crease angle. The three-dimensional crease model constructed in this study provided a reference model for the subsequent design of membrane structures considering creases.
Highlights Expand the crease study into three dimensions by digital image correlation method. The initial flat state concept defined by energy radio based on thin shell theory. The functional relationship of the crease parameters was obtained experimentally. The crease finite element model with different crease angle is established.
Experimental and numerical study of creased membrane based on digital image correlation method
Acta Astronautica ; 209 ; 31-42
2023-04-19
12 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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