Tension Element to Reduce Loads in Rim Support of Inflatable Reflector

A structural analysis is performed for the rim support of a pressurized off‐axis paraboloidal membrane that serves as a space‐based solar concentrator. The function of the elliptical rim support is to take up the tensile forces created by the stretched membrane. This paper extends earlier load and deformation analyses to include the effect of a tension element added along the major axis of the ellipse. Such an element, in the form of a string or cable, restrains the tendency for increased ovality of the rim support under load without seriously interfering with the packaging and deployment of the device, at negligible added mass. The internal forces and moments and the deformations resulting from the membrane‐applied loads have been calculated. The analysis has shown that a properly designed tension element can reduce the maximum bending moment by more than a factor of 2. The deformations are reduced by more than a factor of 20.