Modelling and Manufacturing of a Composite Bi-Stable Boom for Small Satellites

Sammanfattning: Thin cylindrical shell structures may provide an interesting breakthrough for deployable structures for small satellites. Its bi-stable behaviour allows two different stable configurations: coiled and deployed. Several projects worldwide are using tape springs for satellites and for the SEAM project, at KTH, 1 meter long tape springs will be used for booms. This thesis investigates the energy stored inside the tape spring according to its layup configuration and the different fiber orientations. With a thickness around 0.3 mm and a length of one meter, the booms will deploy sensors with a quite low deployment speed in order to minimize the shick load during the deployment phase. A Matlab code is written to compare the stored strain energy. Another aim is to find an adequate layout all along the tape spring, it means change the fiber orientation to decrease the energy released, but also generating main manufacturing issue.