Pretension Design of Space Mesh Reflector Antennas Based on Projection Principle
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 28, Issue 6
Abstract
A pretension design method based on the projection principle is proposed for space deployable mesh reflector antennas. First, the equilibrium tension of the plane cable net structure is obtained by a force equilibrium method. Then, the obtained cable tensions of the plane cable net structure are projected to the spatial cable net reflector to obtain the spatial cable tensions. Finally, the implication relationship between the plane cable tensions and the tension distributions of front and back cable nets is revealed. A general analytical expression is deduced for the axisymmetric reflector, and an optimization model is established for the offset reflector. Some hoop truss deployable mesh antennas are examined as examples of pretension design. The uniform cable tensions and high surface accuracy of reflectors are obtained to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This project is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51375360).
References
Li, T. J. (2012). “Deployment analysis and control of deployable space antenna.” Aerosp. Sci. Technol., 18(1), 42–47.
Li, T. J., and Wang, Y. (2009). “Performance relationships between ground model and space prototype of deployable space antennas.” Acta Astronaut., 65(9–10), 1383–1392.
Linkwitz, K., and Schek, H. J. (1971). “Einige Bemerkungen zur Berechnung von vorgespannten Seilnetzkonstruktionen.” Ing. Arch., 40(3), 145–158 (in German).
Liu, W., Li, D. X., and Jiang, J. P. (2014a). “General mesh configuration design approach for large cable-network antenna reflectors.” J. Struct. Eng., 51–60.
Liu, W., Li, D. X., Yu, X. Z., and Jiang, J. P. (2014b). “Exact mesh shape design of large cable-network antenna reflectors with flexible ring truss supports.” Acta Mech. Sin., 30(2), 198–205.
Ma, X. F., Song, Y. P., Li, Z. J., Li, T. J., Wang, Z. W., and Deng, H. Q. (2013). “Mesh reflector antennas: Form-finding analysis review.” 54th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structure Dynamics, and Material Conf., AIAA, Boston, 2013–1576.
Michael, R. B. (1999). “Form finding and analysis of tension structures by dynamic relaxation.” Int. J. Space Struct., 14(2), 89–104.
Morterolle, S., Maurin, B., Quirant, J., and Dupuy, C. (2012). “Numerical form-finding of geotensoid tension truss for mesh reflector.” Acta Astronaut., 76(7–8), 154–163.
Shi, H., Yang, B., and Fang, H. (2013). “Offset-feed surface mesh generation for design of space deployable mesh reflectors.” Proc., 54th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structure Dynamics and Material Conf., AIAA, Boston, 2013–1526.
Thomson, M. W. (1999). “The astromesh deployable reflector.” IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Int. Symp., IEEE, Orlando, FL, 1516–1519.
Thomson, M. W. (2002). “AstroMesh deployable reflectors for Ku and Ka band commercial satellites.” Proc., 20th AIAA Int. Communication Satellite Systems Conf. and Exhibit, AIAA, Montréal, 2002–2032.
Tibert, A. G. (2003). “Optimal design of tension truss antennas.” Proc., 44th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/ AHS/ASC Structures, Structure Dynamics and Material Conf., AIAA, Reston, VA, 2003–1629.
Tibert, A. G., and Pellegrino, S. (2003). “Review of form-finding methods for tensegrity structures.” Int. J. Space Struct., 18(4), 209–223.
Wang, Z. W., Li, T. J., and Deng, H. Q. (2014). “Form-finding analysis and active shape adjustment of cable net reflectors with PZT actuators.” J. Aerosp. Eng., 575–586.
Yang, B., Shi, H., Thomson, M., and Fang, H. (2009). “Optimal design of initial surface profile of deployable mesh reflectors via static modeling and quadratic programming.” Proc., 50th AIAA/ASME/ ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structure Dynamics and Material Conf., AIAA, Reston, VA, 2009–2173.
Zhang, J. Y., and Ohsaki, M. (2006). “Adaptive force density method for form-finding problem of tensegrity structures.” Int. J. Solids. Struct., 43(18–19), 5658–5673.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 28 • Issue 6 • November 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 1, 2013
Accepted: Nov 12, 2014
Published online: Dec 8, 2014
Discussion open until: May 8, 2015
Published in print: Nov 1, 2015
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.