Ultralight Coilable Structures

In this lecture Professor Pellegrino will present novel lightweight modular structures that can be tightly coiled for launch and robustly deployed in orbit, for future space missions. The structural concept, inspired by solar sails, combines origami packaging techniques with coilable thin shells that are built from composite materials. The packaging and deployment of these structures have been demonstrated through numerical simulations and proof-of-concept physical models. Professor Pellegrino will also present preliminary results from still ongoing research on several specific questions related to the design of these structures, to meet the requirements of specific space missions. These questions include: the localization of the deformation of thin shells during coiling, the stability of fiber-reinforced polymers held coiled for a long period of time, and the buckling and post-buckling behavior of space structures based on thin shells. Another important topic that will be discussed is the modeling and prediction of the dynamic behavior of these large and complex space structures.

https://caltech.zoom.us/j/89629687838?pwd=c2hEd3RJWHpWUFg2amgvTHJOOFgxQT09