Space Structures

Prof. Adrian Orifici

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 Overview
• Types of space structures
• Requirements
• Analysis of space structures
• Buckling of curved panels and cylinders
• Design of space structures
– truss, cylinder

2
 Space Structures
• Space structures use stiffened skin design,
though types of primary structure can vary
• Basic analysis techniques developed in this
course and others can be applied
• Many design considerations from aircraft are
relevant, though others are specific to space

3
 Space Structures: Types
• Primary
– body structure
– launch vehicle
adapter

• Secondary
– booms, trusses
– solar panels
– antenna dishes

• Tertiary
– brackets, boxes
images.nasa.gov, ID: 8663396

4
 Space Structures: Types
• Truss (axial loads only)
and Frames (shear and
bending through joints)
– manufactured as tubes,
assembled members,
machined, composites

• Skin-frame structures
– skins, stringers (axial),
frames (shear into skin and
support buckling), any shape
– skins can be buckling type
Sarafin, TP (ed), “Spacecraft Structures and Mechanisms – from Concept to Launch”, 1995, Kluwer: Table 15.7
5
 True-False

T / F: Stable truss structures use only

triangles
T / F: Truss structures make it easy to
transfer loads to cylindrical structures
T / F: Trusses should have pinned
supports on all ends
T / F: A rectangle box beam would be
suitable for carrying torsion
T / F: Frames are typically attached to
other structures using adhesive bonding
Sarafin, Table 15.7
6
 Space Structures: Types
• Shear panels can be
nonbuckling or buckling type
• Buckling panel can be lighter as
postbuckling loads carried in
diagonal tension
– more complex loading needs care

Discuss: why can buckling

panels be lighter?

Sarafin: Fig. 15.3

7
 Space Structures: Types
• Monocoque cylinders
– buckling limits strength
– care with concentrated loads
– bending and axial stress

• Stiffened cylinders
– skin-stringer (most common)
– stiffened skin (no frames)
– semi-monocoque (no stringers)

Sarafin: Table 15.8, Table 15.9

8
 True-False

T / F: Monocoque cylinder are only

suitable for small axial loads
T / F: Monocoque cylinders are suitable
for use with removable access panels
T / F: Monocoque cylinders are suitable
to use to carry a concentrated load
T / F: Adding frames increases the
buckling strength of the cylinder
T / F: Axial stiffeners increases the
buckling strength of the cylinder
Sarafin: Table 15.8, Table 15.9
9
 Space Structures: Types
• Sandwich panels are common in aerospace, and
have high buckling strength relative to their weight
• Discuss: Why are sandwich panels efficient in
buckling? (compared to a solid skin)
• Sketch: What loads do the core and facesheet carry?

core

facesheet
Sarafin: Fig. 15.4

10
 Space Structures: Types
• Sandwich and isogrid have
high buckling strength/weight
core
• Sandwich:
– facesheets for in-plane loads
facesheet
(axial shear) and bending
– core for out-of-plane shear

• Isogrid:
– equilateral triangle pattern of ribs
– with skin (closed) or without skin
(open)
Sarafin: Fig. 15.4

11
 Space Structures: Types
• Match the structure to their usual type!
Secondary or Tertiary Structure Usual Type
Solar panel Sandwich structure or isogrid
Antenna-support boom Sandwich, usually flat, can be curved
Pressurised propellant tank Formed (bent) sheet metal
Equipment-mounting platform or panel Graphite/epoxy composite round tube
Cable-support bracket and Formed sheet metal if thin-walled
electrical-connector panel
Component support bracket Welded, thin-walled metal shells

Sarafin: Table. 15.10

12
 What structural types
can you identify?

What structural requirements might it have?

images.nasa.gov, ID: 9802669

13
 Space Structures: Requirements
Structural requirements include:
• Strength • Dynamic envelope
(physical space)
• Structural life
• Positional stability
• Vibration response
• Mechanical interface
• Natural frequency
• Stiffness
• Damping
• Mass properties
14
 Space Structures: Analysis
• Analysis tools
– structural mechanics: statics, dynamics, mass
– dynamics: 1DOF, time/frequency domain, nDOF, modal
– mechanics of materials: bending, torsion, shear
– buckling: columns, beam-columns, plates, curved plates
– failure: strength, buckling, fatigue, fracture, joints

• Simplifications and “classic” hand calc cases

• FE for detailed analysis (validation needed)

15
 Curved Panels
• Curved plates common in aerospace structures
• Buckling of curved plates typically involves higher stresses
than the corresponding flat plate
– can also be less sensitive to imperfections

• Approach for buckling of curved plates is identical to flat

plates, except the graphs used are different
• Buckling factors depend on a/b ratio, and on b2/rt ratio,
where r is the panel radius, as well as loading type

2
t
 b  KE    K varies with plate
b type and loading

16
Shear buckling of curved Shear buckling of curved
panels, curved edge larger panels, curved edge smaller

Peery and Azar, Fig. 11.46 Peery and Azar, Fig. 11.47

17
 Cylindrical Shells
• For cylindrical shells in compression, the number of circumferential
waves depends on the ratio R/t
– Large number of waves develop for large R/t

• Length of longitudinal waves is the same magnitude as circumferential

• Walls buckle much easier inward than outward

– curved walls decrease in stiffness with inward buckles (increase outward)

Singer, Arbocz, Weller, Figure 9.3

Peery and Azar, Fig. 11.39
Singer J, Arbocz J, Weller T, Buckling Experiments:
Peery DJ and Azar JJ, Aircraft Structures, Experimental Methods in Buckling of Thin-Walled
2nd edn, 1982, McGraw-Hill, NY, USA. Structures, 1998, John Wiley & Sons, New York, USA

18
 Cylindrical Shells
• Buckling stress of cylinders varies with loading type and pressurisation,
and other aspects: geometry, boundary conditions, imperfections, etc.

• e.g. unpressurised cylinder roughly approximated by 𝑡

𝜎 𝐾𝐸
– K varies with loading type, R/t, and imperfection 𝑅

• Stiffeners also have a significant impact on buckling response

– for high R/t ratios, buckling stress is similar to a curved plate between stiffeners

Peery and Azar, Fig. 11.39

Singer, Arbocz, Weller, Figure 9.3

19
What buckling modes
might be possible?

images.nasa.gov, ID: 9802669

20
 Space Structures: Design
• Design considerations are complex with many
competing requirements
• Standards, past designs, experience, all critical
• Analytical methods useful for conceptual design
– configurations, concepts, trade studies, structural types

• Design of trusses and cylinders will be discussed

– show simple methods, structures and design concepts

21
 Truss Design
• Preliminary truss design considers axial loads
only and ignores joint moments
– useful for stability and efficiency studies
– shear, moments, joint loads, plasticity, etc. added later

• A stable truss has an axial load path for any joint

load and sufficient support reactions
– each joint must be able to maintain equilibrium
– if joint analysis (method of joints) can’t solve all
unknowns then truss is not stable

• Triangles and direct load paths highly effective

22
How to make these stable?

Sarafin: Figure 15.10

23
 Truss Design
• For sizing area, use strength in tension and
strength or buckling in compression
– quick design studies can ignore buckling

• An efficient (minimum weight) truss minimises total

strain energy (energy from displacement)
– with strength-based sizing, the lightest truss is the stiffest

• 45 diagonals and load evenly shared among

members are the most efficient designs
– many reasons why most efficient design not favoured!

24
Efficiency compared in pairs (left vs right)

What are
the load
paths
here?

Sarafin: Figure 15.14

25
 Which weighs less? By how much?
y = 50 ksi

P L
P L
1 7 14
1 11.1 22
2 5 20
2 10 20
3 7 14
4 10 10

Sarafin: Figure 15.15

26
 Cylinder Design
• Unpressurised monocoque cylinders designed for:
– buckling (compression, shear, torsion, bending)
– stiffness, i.e. krequired = EI / L
– (many other things in practice!)

• Sandwich construction common

– solid-skin normally only for stiffness-driven design

• Basic sizing process uses material

failure to size facesheets and tf
buckling (bending) resistance to h
size sandwich panel
27
 Cylinder Design
• Consider a cylinder with axial load P and bending
moment M applied
• Determine the equivalent axial load Peq, which
gives the same max stress as combining P and M
max
M
P

Peq

28
 Peq
Cylinder Design
• Determine the solid-skin thickness
required for compression (ts,c)
– can also check thickness required for
stiffness (EI/L) and use larger of two

• Facesheet thickness tf is half of solid skin

sized for compression (and bending)

tf = ½ ts,c
tf
ts,c h

29
 tf
ts,b Cylinder Design h
• Determine the solid-skin thickness
to buckle at yield stress (ts,b)
– K can require an iterative approach

• Determine h to match the radius of

gyration of the solid-skin cylinder
– use a flat plate of unit width b and thin-wall assumptions

30
 Space Structures
• Space structures use a range of different structural
types for primary structures
– primary structure: trusses, stiffened-skins, cylinders

• Basic analysis techniques developed in this course

and others can be applied for design and analysis
• Many design considerations from aircraft are
relevant, though others are specific to space

31
32
 Additional Slides as Reference
• Solutions to Truss Design
• Solutions to Cylinder Design

33
How to make these stable?
add a member to the
rectangular bay to turn
it into triangles

add a member to the

rectangular bay to turn
it into triangles

another reaction DOF

or to change one of
existing reactions to a
stable configuration
Sarafin: Figure 15.10

34
 Which weighs less? By how much?
y = 50 ksi

P L PL
P L PL Truss on right
weighs less as 1 7 14 98
1 11.1 22 244
it is 396 / 444 = 2 5 20 100
2 10 20 200
0.89 of the 3 7 14 98
 444 weight of the 4 10 10 100
left truss
 396
W = (P/y)*L so  PL
Sarafin: Figure 15.15

35
 Cylinder Design
• Consider a cylinder with axial load P and bending
moment M applied
• Determine the equivalent axial load Peq, which
gives the same max stress as combining P and M
max
M
P

Peq

36
 Peq
Cylinder Design
• Determine the solid-skin thickness
required for compression (ts,c)
– can also check thickness required for
,
stiffness (EI/L) and use larger of two

• Facesheet thickness tf is half of solid skin

sized for compression (and bending)

tf = ½ ts,c
tf
ts,c h

37
 tf
ts,b Cylinder Design h
• Determine the solid-skin thickness
to buckle at yield stress (ts,b)
– K can require an iterative approach ,

• Determine h to match the radius of

gyration of the solid-skin cylinder
– use a flat plate of unit width b and thin-wall assumptions
/
,

, ,
,
/

38