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Published September 2021 | Published
Journal Article Open

Topology and Shape Optimization of Ultrathin Composite Self-Deployable Shell Structures with Cutouts

Abstract

This paper presents two methods to design cutouts that allow damage-free folding of the stiffest possible composite self-deployable thin shell structures of complex shapes. The first method uses level-set functions that define a general number of cutouts. The second method uses a spline representation of the contour of a single cutout and optimizes its shape. Material failure detection is implemented in the solution. Both methods are applied to the design of deployable thin shells forming 90° joints, and multiple viable solutions are obtained. Experiments on the best performing design, a 90–390 μm thick shell made of Astroquartz with a cyanate ester matrix, with five cutouts on each side, are presented to illustrate and validate the proposed approach.

Additional Information

© 2021 by Serena Ferraro and Sergio Pellegrino. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., with permission. Presented as Paper 2019-1524 at the SciTech 2019, San Diego, CA, January 7–11, 2019; received 26 February 2020; revision received 6 February 2021; accepted for publication 1 March 2021; published online 10 May 2021. This research was supported by a NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship. S.F. acknowledges the mentorship of William Doggett, NASA Langley Research Center, and valuable discussions with Thibaud Talon, Caltech. Suggestions from anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged.

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August 20, 2023
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