Vibration shape testing of space sheet structure

Abstract

The space sheet for a solar array structure is large in dimension, and flexible to induce complex distortion. It is difficult to measure the distortion. A large-scale flexible test prototype system is built for sheet structure vibration monitoring based on the vibration information of the solar array in space. The system provides an intelligent test method for flexible space structure with embedded sensors and non-visualization reinstruction. Multiple fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors are packaged and embedded into the structure with spatial division multiplexing (SDM) and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). The sensor interrogator distinguishes wavelength shifts that can be turned into curvature of the curve. The structure shape is reconstructed based on the curvature information and the arc-length, and then displayed. The experiment shows that the system has a high FBG sensitivity. The reconstruction algorithm is fast with high precision. The system has great potential for use in health monitoring of the space sheet structure.