Development of a miniature dynamic stiffness measurement prototype toward structural health monitoring of space inflatable structures

Pengfei Li, Suyu Xu, Chao Xu, Fei Du, Shancheng Cao

科研成果: 期刊稿件文章同行评审

4 引用 (Scopus)

摘要

Inflatable structures are increasingly used in aerospace engineering. However, the space survivability and durability of such structures are of particular concern due to material aging in space environment and unexpected external impact threats. Thus, it is very urgent to in-situ monitor and assess structural health condition for space inflatable structures. Since inflatable structures are often lightweight, large-sized and flexible, their low-frequency vibration response contains much information about structural health condition. To facilitate in-situ structural health monitoring of space inflatable structures, this paper developed a miniature low-frequency dynamic stiffness measurement prototype. The prototype is capable of generating two channels of swept-sine excitation signals, and concurrently acquiring six channels of response signals. Recorded data is communicated and downlinked from the host spacecraft to the ground, and then the dynamic stiffness is derived to determine structural health condition. To validate the developed prototype, two simulated inflatable space structures are fabricated and tested, including an inflatable boom and an inflatable torus, and then Macro-Fiber Composite transducers are attached on two specimens as actuators and sensors in tests. Experimental studies show that the prototype functions well and the outputted results are consistent with that measured by large-bulked commercial ground devices. Additionally, the multi-channel functionality of the prototype is verified by carrying out the multi-input multi-output test. In summary, the prototype features small size, light weight, and low power consumption, which has the potential for future space applications.

源语言英语
文章编号111051
期刊Measurement: Journal of the International Measurement Confederation
194
DOI
出版状态已出版 - 15 5月 2022

指纹

探究 'Development of a miniature dynamic stiffness measurement prototype toward structural health monitoring of space inflatable structures' 的科研主题。它们共同构成独一无二的指纹。

引用此