Deployable Shelter Research Articles

Transition analysis of flat-foldable origami-inspired deployable shelter concepts

Deployable shelters have many applications, including disaster relief and temporary housing. The ability to transport and rapidly erect such shelters is an important design consideration. Inspired by the geometric attributes of origami, multiple rapidly deployable foldable shelter design concepts are presented and analyzed by considering such requirements as (a) flat-foldability, (b) kinematic compatibility, (c) panel connectivity, and (d) load requirement to unfold the shelter completely to its upright position. Both thin- and thick-walled concepts based on consistent and accurate CAD models are evaluated and compared, with thick walls posing additional constraints, including placement of the hinge lines and nesting of panels with varied thicknesses to accommodate flat-foldability. Rigorous mathematical models are developed for transition analysis and determination of the erection torque based on the load location and without causing any panel to experience in-plane or out-of-plane deformation. The analytical solutions are compared to and verified with those obtained through detail CAD modeling and motion simulation with SolidWorks® CAD and SolidWorks Motion. The results show that compound folding patterns can be accommodated in flat-foldable, thick-walled, origami-inspired shelter concepts that act mostly or fully as a single-degree-of-freedom system with maximum connectivity of the shelter panels. Moreover, the erection torque is found to depend strongly on its application location and vary significantly during the transition process. The results reveal the importance of transition analysis and the merits of different concepts for informing future design decisions affecting the size, shape, and erection load for similar deployable shelters.

Challenges of Treating Adenovirus Infection: Application of a Deployable Rapid-Assembly Shelter Hospital.

This article outlines the evolution of a rescue team in responding to adenovirus prevention with a deployable field hospital. The local governments mobilized a shelter hospital and a rescue team consisting of 59 members to assist with rescue and response efforts after an epidemic outbreak of adenovirus. We describe and evaluate the challenges of preparing for deployment, field hospital maintenance, treatment mode, and primary treatment methods. The field hospital established at the rescue scene consisted of a medical command vehicle, a computed tomography shelter, an X-ray shelter, a special laboratory shelter, an oxygen and electricity supply vehicle, and epidemic prevention and protection equipment. The rescue team comprised paramedics, physicians, X-ray technicians, respiratory therapists, and logistical personnel. In 22 days, more than 3000 patients with suspected adenovirus infection underwent initial examinations. All patients were properly treated, and no deaths occurred. After emergency measures were implemented, the spread of adenovirus was eventually controlled. An emergency involving infectious diseases in less-developed regions demands the rapid development of a field facility with specialized medical personnel when local hospital facilities are either unavailable or unusable. An appropriate and detailed prearranged action plan is important for infectious diseases prevention. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:109-114).

Balancing energy efficiency and structural performance through multi-objective shape optimization: Case study of a rapidly deployable origami-inspired shelter

For military and disaster relief housing, rapidly deployable shelters must be lightweight, be packaged in a small volume for transportability, and be erected without heavy lifting equipment. A critical design criterion is also energy efficiency in heating and cooling. To meet these priorities, the research team has utilized origami as inspiration for a thermally insulated rigid wall deployable shelter that can be erected manually through counterweighting. To enhance energy efficiency, improvements in the shape of a structure (i.e., member lengths and angles) at a design stage can lead to savings throughout its lifecycle. This is magnified in the context of mass-production of deployable shelters, where any improvements are multiplied. Structural efficiency is also critical to achieve lightweight design. This paper presents a multi-objective shape optimization methodology which balances the priorities of structural performance (i.e., minimum deflections) and energy efficiency (i.e., minimum thermal energy load). This is demonstrated for the case study of a deployable shelter. Design variables include geometric parameters. Constraints relate to the package size and capability of interfacing with existing technologies. Structural analysis is performed using a parametric finite element program. Thermal energy is calculated using EnergyPlus. An optimized solution is found and compared against existing military solutions.

The MARS2013 Mars analog mission.

We report on the MARS2013 mission, a 4-week Mars analog field test in the northern Sahara. Nineteen experiments were conducted by a field crew in Morocco under simulated martian surface exploration conditions, supervised by a Mission Support Center in Innsbruck, Austria. A Remote Science Support team analyzed field data in near real time, providing planning input for the management of a complex system of field assets; two advanced space suit simulators, four robotic vehicles, an emergency shelter, and a stationary sensor platform in a realistic work flow were coordinated by a Flight Control Team. A dedicated flight planning group, external control centers for rover tele-operations, and a biomedical monitoring team supported the field operations. A 10 min satellite communication delay and other limitations pertinent to human planetary surface activities were introduced. The fields of research for the experiments were geology, human factors, astrobiology, robotics, tele-science, exploration, and operations research. This paper provides an overview of the geological context and environmental conditions of the test site and the mission architecture, in particular the communication infrastructure emulating the signal travel time between Earth and Mars. We report on the operational work flows and the experiments conducted, including a deployable shelter prototype for multiple-day extravehicular activities and contingency situations.

M2S2 Modular Deployable Composite Shelters – Concept and Loading Criteria

Deployable shelters of various forms have been utilised since ancient civilisation. The need for these systems has not diminished over time, and development continues for military forces, civilian humanitarian aid, and post-natural disaster scenarios. Recent developments have focussed variously on tent type structures, air beam technology and steel frames supporting soft fabric, yet none have fully satisfied the deployability requirements.The Milliary Modular Shelter System (M2S2) initiative is a research project that aims to develop a fibre composite re-deployable arched shelter system with rigid or fabric cladding. The main frames are formed from standard modular panels that are connected and stressed in position by prestressing cables. Different geometries can be obtained using this system by changing the number of panels per frame and the packer sizes between panels.This paper is divided into two parts. The first presents the performance criteria for deployable shelters, reviews the different deployable shelter systems developed to date and presents the concept of M2S2 including the initial panel investigations. The second part discusses the loading criteria for deployable shelters. Due to the lightness of this type of structures, wind loads are the most critical loading type that drives the design. A generic approach of assessing wind pressure on deployable shelters is presented and applied for two international loading codes.