Quasi-static Folding Mechanical Behavior Analysis and Optimization Design for Composite Tube Hinge

Abstract

The mechanical behavior of a composite deployable structure is investigated, which is a tube hinge with two slots. Based on the Hashin failure criterion, the mechanical behavior and the failure position of tube hinge bending process are analyzed. Moreover, the feasibility of applying composite materials to tube hinges is verified. At the same time, the influences of slot length, slot width and circle diameter of tube hinge are discussed. The optimal model is established based on response surface methodology, which aimed at maximizing the strain energy and minimizing the peak moment. The failure index during folding processes is considered as constraint. The geometric parameters of tube hinge are chosen as the design variables. By using the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm, the optimum parameters are obtained by solving the multi-objective optimal model. The proposed method has significance on designing novel deployable structures with high stability and reliability.