Publications [#149847] of Tod A Laursen

Papers Published

1. I. Stanciulescu and L. N. Virgin and T. A. Laursen, Slender solar sail booms: Finite element analysis, Journal Of Spacecraft And Rockets, vol. 44 no. 3 (2007), pp. 528 -- 537, ISSN 0022-4650
   (last updated on 2008/09/11)

   Abstract:
   Various aspects related to the numerical (finite element) analysis of the support structure for solar sails are analyzed. Static analyses of single booms (simple beam and isogrid configurations) are presented and dynamic properties are extracted before and beyond the buckling load. Numerical difficulties associated with the case of buckling under nonconservative loading are also explored using as a reference example von Beck's problem, for which a closed-form solution for comparison is available. A study of the entire support structure for a square solar sail (four connected booms) is also presented. In all analyses, attention is focused on the prediction of the post-buckling (large deflection) behavior, including dynamics.