Deployment simulation analysis of inflatable membrane structures

In this paper,an inflatable membrane structure(inflatable antenna) model is built.Deployment simulation is launched based on the explicit finite element analysis software LS-DYNA.A method of virtual dissepiments is used in the deployment analysis of tube to study the two folded forms under different inflation speed.When coiled-folded method is used,the tube will generate new hinge point and central bending.It is detrimental to expand.Z-folded method is better in this way.To compare different inflatable speed,low-speed inflation can make the tube deploy more orderly than high-speed inflation.The interaction among the tube,the torus and the parabolic-shaped reflector are also studied.Two-stage analysis method is used to make the whole model deploy orderly.