Journal of Aerospace Engineering

A lunar base is an essential part of all the new space exploration programs because the Moon is the most logical first destination in space. Its hazardous environment will pose challenges for all engineering disciplines involved. A structural engineer’s approach is outlined in this paper, discussing possible materials and structural concepts for second-generation construction on the Moon. Several different concepts are evaluated and the most reasonable is chosen for a detailed design. During the design process, different solutions—for example, for the connections—were found. Although lunar construction is difficult, the proposed design offers a relatively simple structural frame for erection. A habitat on the Moon can be built with a reasonable factor of safety and existing technology. Even so, we recognize the very significant difficulties that await our return to the Moon.

Confinement of flexural vibrations in nonhomogeneous beams is formulated as one of two types of an inverse eigenvalue problem. In the first problem, the beam’s geometrical and physical parameters and natural frequencies are determined for a prescribed set of confined mode shapes. In the second problem, the beam’s parameters are approximated for a given set of confined mode shapes and frequencies. In both problems, a set of mode shapes, which satisfy all of the boundary conditions and yield vibration confinement in prespecified spatial subdomains of the beam, are selected. Because closed-form solutions are not available, we discretize the spatial domain using the differential quadrature method. As a result, the eigenvalue problem is replaced by a system of algebraic equations, which incorporates the values of the beam’s parameters at all grid points. These equations constitute a well-posed eigenvalue problem, which can be readily solved to determine an equal number of unknowns characterizing the beam properties. In both confinement problems, the unknown physical and geometrical properties must be positive and are approximated using functions constructed from polynomials. These functions are specified at the beam’s left end, right end, or both. Numerical simulations are conducted to confirm convergence of the solution of the inverse eigenvalue problem. It is shown that the physical and geometrical properties can be reconstructed from a few mode shapes. The approximate parameters are finally substituted in the eigenvalue problem to confirm the confined mode shapes of the beam.

Determination of Mars soil mechanical properties will improve future lander mission success and provide narrower constraints for geomorphological modeling. A soil mechanics investigation was conducted wherein soil mechanical properties were determined by computer reconstruction of mass wasting features observed in photographs of Mars Exploration Rover landing sites and analysis of natural slope stability. Mars soil mechanical properties were compared with thermal inertia measurements and a correlation is presented. Tests with rovers and equipment for Mars surface exploration and various past laboratory experiments have incorporated a number of different Mars soil simulants. Standard laboratory measurements were conducted to characterize the shear strength, grain size distribution, and densities of various Mars soil simulants. From these measurements, the ability of a given simulant to appropriately represent the mechanical properties of in situ Mars soils was judged. Specific simulants are recommended for certain regions of Mars.

This paper examines several available analytic and experimental methods to determine the orthotropic material properties of honeycomb. Fifteen published sets of simple equations for the material properties were reviewed and their values calculated for a specific honeycomb aluminum core. The same core was tested with ASTM standard methods and the agreement between the theoretical material properties and the experimental results was considered. To reduce the time and cost for the experimental determination, a simple technique for measuring the main dynamic material properties of honeycomb is introduced. A good agreement was found between the major theoretical out-of-plane material properties of honeycomb, the experimental ASTM methods, and the presented dynamic approach.

Elastic-memory composites (EMCs) is a class of polymeric composites that can be folded into a very compact shape and later deployed to the original shape upon reheating. They have significant potential in developing large deployable structures greater than $10\mathrm{m}$ in size that can be stowed in a small launch vehicle and deployed in space to predetermined levels of precision. Generally, the composite is folded by heating it above the glass transition temperature of the resin. The primary deformation mode that allows EMCs to achieve significantly higher effective strains than traditional composites is microbuckling of the compressed fibers. The magnitude of this microbuckling dictates whether the laminate behaves elastically or if the laminate exhibits material failure such as fiber breakage, or fiber kinking. This paper explores the micromechanics of both types of fiber-deformation modes associated with the bending of such soft-resin composites. An analysis method is developed and correlated with experimental data to provide an estimate for the level of folding strain that a soft-resin laminate can achieve based on microbuckling-induced material failure. Additionally, insight is provided into the effects of fiber and matrix material properties on the formation and magnitude of the kink mode. Tests were also conducted to determine the deployment accuracy after a number of folding/deployment cycles to help design deployable sensor structures with these materials.

This paper formulates flutter/divergence instability problems using continuum models for structure and air flow as coupled nonlinear partial differential equations. The structure model is a Kirchoff CFFF thin plate allowing for nonzero thickness and camber bending. The aerodynamics is modeled by the transonic small disturbance potential equation. The aeroelastic boundary conditions are derived for nonzero angle of attack. A central result is the time domain model as a nonlinear convolution/evolution equation in a Hilbert space. Flutter speed is characterized as a Hopf bifurcation point, completely determined by the linearized equations. The main tool in solving the linear equations is the Possio equation for nonzero angle of attack. Divergence speed is shown to be determined by an eigenvalue problem for linear operators. The corresponding stationary (steady state) solutions are more regular in the transonic range (as $M$ goes to one) if the angle of attack is nonzero.