Design and Analysis of a Cable Network System for a Deployable Reflector

Abstract

The feasibility of a deployable reflector with a cable network system is investigated. The cable network system comprises a series of planar double-layer cable networks. The geometry and two typical layouts of cable networks are examined. The self-equilibrated stress modes are analyzed with the method of the Moore–Penrose generalized inverse matrix and assembled into a uniform prestress state. The parametric sensitivities of cable networks are studied on account of the temperature effect. The surface error caused by elastic boundary deformation is minimized through the inverse-iteration form finding of the cable network system. Some numerical experiments are carried out to study the reflector properties under the thermal loads in space. The vibration modal analysis is also conducted. Results indicate that the reflector can work with the rms surface error due to thermal distortion less than 0.10 mm.