折り目が残るインフレータブルチューブの微小重力下での展開挙動

抄録

Inflatable structures have attracted considerable attention as space structures. In many space experiments, folds occurred during deployments of inflatable structures. They had undesirable influences on the body of space structures. This paper is intended as an investigation of deploying behaviors under microgravity of inflatable tubes that have a plastic fold on the center and a mass block on the tip. During their deployments, spring-back phenomena were happened in some experimental conditions. In order to examine these spring-back phenomena, a numerical simulation was conducted using the equation of motion under a consideration of restorable moments with the plastic folds. As a result, simulations corresponded well with experiments. Consequently, a following conclusion was obtained: Spring-back phenomena were caused by restorable moments of the plastic folds.