Deployable
structures technologies are used for booms, solar arrays, and antennas
on spacecraft; for portable shelters and retractable roofs;and for
kinetic exhibition displays. In the past, these technologies have been
developed by trial and error and for specific applications, but the
current growing demand for deployable structures requires a new
approach.The Deployable Structures Laboratory was founded by Prof Sergio Pellegrino in
1990 to develop new, generic solutions and to better understand the
behaviour of existing deployable structures.
Among the general
results that we have obtained are folding conditions for
two-dimensional and three-dimensional structures with "scissors"joints,
packaging conditions for thin membranes, computational tools to
identify singular configurations (kinematic bifurcations) along a
deployment path, shape optimisation methods for variable geometry
trusses. Recent advances in the computational modelling of multi-body
systems have led to more accurate simulations of the folding and
unfolding process. The best way to understand our work is by visiting
our laboratory or by studying our publications
.
We are
active in many new fields, including Smart and Adaptive Structures, the
use of piezoelectric and shape-memory alloy materials in structural
actuators, and the design of special, geometrically bi-stable
structures using composite materials. We have strong industrial links,
particularly with the Aerospace Industry and the European Space Agency.
The
international reputation of our laboratory as a centre of excellence in
the field of deployable structures has been recognised by invitations
to exhibit models of newly developed concepts at the exhibitions
"Contemporary Developments in Design Science: Buckminster Fuller
Centennial Exhibition"New York (1995-96); "Building for the Future"
Istanbul (1996);and "Les Ingenieurs du Siecle" Paris (1997).
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