Deployable Structures: Structural Design and Static/Dynamic Analysis

• Published in: Journal of elasticity Vol. 146; no. 2; pp. 199 - 235
• Main Authors: Zhang, Xiao, Nie, Rui, Chen, Yan, He, Baiyan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.11.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Automotive Engineering; Classical Mechanics; Configurations; Deployable structures; Design analysis; Dynamic stability; Flexible structures; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Robotics; Stability analysis; Structural design; Structural stability; Structural design; Statics; 74Sxx; 52C25; 74Pxx; Deployable structures; 70Exx; 74Kxx; 70Bxx; 74Hxx; Dynamics; 74Gxx; Performance analysis
• ISSN: 0374-3535; 1573-2681
• DOI: 10.1007/s10659-021-09860-6

Deployable structures can realize the transformation from a folded configuration to a deployed configuration to satisfy the requirements of applications. They have been widely used in aerospace structures, civil temporary components, medical devices, transformable robotics and other engineering applications. A large amount of research has been carried out on the structural design ranging from rigid, rigid-flexible to flexible structures and the performance analysis including the static loading properties and structural stability, as well as the dynamics during deployment and in the deployed configuration. However, to date, there are no mature systematic approaches for the design and analysis of deployable structures due to diverted application demands. Therefore, in this review, efforts are made to find a common methodology from most existing successful cases and to propose the major challenges for the future applications of deployable structures.