Development of dynamic deployment simulation of thin composite layer for shape morphing structure

Abstract

The present study attempted to develop a numerical method to deal with deployment dynamics of a thin composite layer for shape morphing structures, including space deployable structure based on shape memory polymer composites (SMPCs). We utilized a three-layer model based on finite element analysis using shell elements in order to model a thin composite layer. The three-layer model could deal with the difference between tension and bending properties of the thin composite layer.Employing this approach, we also attempted to model our deployment experiment. We observed and simulated the deployment dynamics when one end of the hemispherically curved composite layer was released. When the appropriate bending modulus was used for modeling the composites, the simulated dynamics was almost similar to the experimental results. Therefore, we concluded that the proposed simulation can reproduce the deployment dynamics of a thin composite layer well.