STUDY FOR INFLATABLE CONTROL DEPLOYMENT DYNAMICS OF ROLLED BOOMS

Inflatable booms are basic support parts in large inflatable space structures. For flexible rolled booms the deployment processes with and without damp are analyzed based on the rigid body plane motion theory. A finite element model of segmented inflatable control volume is established in this paper firstly; then, deployment dynamics of the rolled boom under space environment is simulated. Lastly, inflatable deployment test of a rolled boom with Velcro was conducted. The experimental results agree well with those of numerical simulation, which indicates that the rolled boom with certain control deployment is able to be used as a deployable mode of inflatable space structures.