Abstract
We propose a wing which is constructed by two solar cell films and a gas-inflatable beam. The two solar cell films correspond to the upper and the lower surface of the wing, and the beam is putting between the two films. The two films are flat plate before the beam is inflated by gas pressure. After the beam is inflated, the films become like shell with curvature. We produce a prototype wing and perform bending and twist experiment to demonstrate a structural characteristic of the proposed wing. Also, we perform geometric nonlinear finite element analysis based on the plate theory considering shear deformation. As a result, the result of both bending and twist experiment shows that separation of linear part and nonlinear part in load-deflection curve is not clear, and we observe deflection of our wing for the large applied load. Our numerical analysis result correspond to the experimental result.
