抄録
The fundamental mechanical properties of an extendible mast for space use are investigated. The mast has a cylindrical configuration and consists of circumferentially separable three flexible shell sections. Three shell sections are rolled up along the longitudinal direction when the mast is stowed and transported to space. During the deployment in space, three sections are unrolled and connected to neighboring sections with tape fasteners to form the cylindrical mast. In this study, tensile and torsional tests are conducted in order to evaluate the effect of mechanical properties of the tape fasteners on mechanical behaviors, especially torsional behavior, of the mast. Finite element analyses including the effect of the tape fasteners are also conducted. Experimental results show that the addition of tape fasteners to the open-section mast improves its torsional stiffness. The experimentally observed tensile and torsional behaviors of the mast including the effect of tape fasteners are well simulated by the finite element model.
