Composite Tube Hinges
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 18, Issue 4
Abstract
This paper is concerned with self-powered, self-latching tube hinges, made by cutting three parallel slots in a thin-walled carbon fiber reinforced plastic tube with a circular cross section. Thus, a hinge consists of two short tubes connected by three transversally curved strips of material (known as tape springs). A particular tube hinge design is considered, with a diameter of about one-third that of the hinges used previously; this requires the tape springs to reach strains close to failure when the hinge is folded. Three analyses of the peak strains in a tube hinge are presented. The first analysis obtains general analytical expressions for the longitudinal fold radius of a tape spring and the associated peak fiber strains. The second analysis is a finite-element simulation of the folding of a single tape spring and the third analysis is a simulation of a complete tube hinge. It is found that the largest fiber strains in one- and two-ply hinges can be predicted analytically with very good accuracy. It is also found that the contact and interaction between the three tape springs that form a tube hinge, modeled in the third analysis, do not affect the peak strains significantly.
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Acknowledgments
The writers are grateful to Dr M. F. Sutcliffe of Cambridge University for help and advice, and to Professor C. R. Calladine for comments on an earlier version of this paper. Mr. G. C. Dando and Dr. A. Freeman, of QinetiQ Ltd., have provided sample tube hinges and have offered advice on many occasions. Mr. J. Ellis, of Hexcel, Duxford, U.K., has provided materials and manufacturing facilities. Financial support from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and QinetiQ Ltd. is gratefully acknowledged.
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Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 18 • Issue 4 • October 2005
Pages: 224 - 231
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 15, 2003
Accepted: Aug 31, 2004
Published online: Oct 1, 2005
Published in print: Oct 2005
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