Very thin shells, shell-membrane and membrane structures offer high actuator authority for controlling their behaviour. On the other side, special care has to be taken for proper material and structural characterisation and its interaction with the actuators. In the paper different types of actuators are discussed in the context of precision shell-membrane space reflectors. For actuation, emphasis is given on piezo-ceramics and electro-active polymers. Special integration, modelling and testing techniques for smart fibre reinforced shell-membranes and membranes are addressed.

Date Published: 1 November 2007
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 6423, International Conference on Smart Materials and Nanotechnology in Engineering, 64230U (1 November 2007); doi: 10.1117/12.779340

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6423:
International Conference on Smart Materials and Nanotechnology in Engineering
Shanyi Du; Jinsong Leng; Anand K. Asundi, Editor(s)