Limiting the deformation of a spacecraft's hull through the application of piezoelectric materials

Abstract

A spacecraft's hull has an upper limit on the amount of deformation it can withstand due to accelerating forces, a limitation often defined by the hull's composite material's Young's Modulus. This upper limit on the tensile and compressive forces that deform the material beyond its breaking point can be elevated with a modified Young's Modulus through the application of a piezoelectric material. When a section of the hull composed of the piezoelectric material holding a baseline electric charge undergoes deformation due to an external force, a voltage differential is created with the surrounding sections that is directly proportional to the degree of deformation. A new equilibrium for the hull's deformation is created through a back-current, a process that counteracts the initial deformation and therefore voltage differential with an equal and opposite change in voltage. This entire process is controlled by circuitry that both detects the hull's voltage differential and regulates current to and from the hull to counteract its deformation. This paper designs the hull's new architecture and provides the mathematical formulism to calculate its modified Young's Modulus and the resulting critical acceleration it can undergo.