Structural Design and Analysis of a Rigidizable Space Shuttle Experiment

Abstract

AFIT is in the process of designing a Space Shuttle experiment designated as the Rigidized Inflatable Get-Away-Special Experiment (RIGEX) to study the effects of microgravity on the deployment of rigidizable composite structures. Once in space, the experiment will inflate and rigidize three composite structures and perform a vibration analysis on each by exciting the tubes using piezoelectric patches and collecting data via an accelerometer. This paper presents the structural and vibration analysis of the RIGEX assembly and inflatable composite tubes using ABAQUS Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software. Comparison of the analysis has been carried out with Eigenvalue/Eigenvector experimentation by means of ping testing. This FEA analysis has been used to verify the natural frequency and structural integrity of the RIGEX support assemblies. The ABAQUS FEA results correlated to within 20% of experimental values.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2004
Accession Number
ADA424139

Entities

People

  • Raymond G. Holstein Iii.

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Sensors
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Composite Materials
  • Engineers
  • Equations
  • Finite Element Analysis
  • Frequency
  • Manufacturing
  • Materials
  • Mechanics
  • Modal Analysis
  • Modulus Of Elasticity
  • Prosthetics
  • Resonant Frequency
  • Space Shuttles
  • Stress Corrosion Cracking
  • Three Dimensional
  • Two Dimensional

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics of Materials.
  • Reinforced Composite Materials
  • Space Exploration and Orbital Mechanics.

Technology Areas

  • Space