• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.853-865
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• 2013

Inflatable panels made of modern and new textile materials can be inflated at high pressure to have a high mechanical strength. This paper is based on the finite element method as a general solution to determine the characteristics of deformed inflatable panels at high pressure in various end and loading conditions. Proposed method is based on the construction of weak form of formulation and application of Reduced Integration Element method (RIE) to solve the numerical problem of shear locking. The numerical results are validated as an outcome of comparison with other published results.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.33-38
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• 2005

The large deformation of inflatable membrane structure is numerically and experimentally considered in this paper. The numerical algorithm of wrinkling based on Miller and Hedgepeth membrane theory is developed using user material(UMAT) subroutine written by FORTRAN. Wrinkled area and deformed shapes of inflatable membrane structures are investigated by using ABAQUS with UMAT subroutine of wrinkling algorithm.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.653-669
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• 2018

This work has the objective to analyze multibody mechanisms of inflatable structures for manned space applications. The focus is on the evaluation of the main characteristics of MaxFlex, a new module of MSC Adams including the effect of nonlinear flexible bodies. MaxFlex integrates the nonlinear Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of Nastran-SOL400-and the Adams multibody capabilities in one unique solver, providing an improvement concerning the concept and technology based on the co-simulation among solvers. MaxFlex converts the equations of motion of the nonlinear FEA into phase-space form and discretizes them according to the multibody system integrator framework. The numerical results deal with an inflatable manned space module having rigid components and a flexible coating made of Kevlar. This paper is a preliminary assessment of the computational capabilities of the software and does not provide realistic guidelines for the actual design of the structure. The analysis leads to some recommendations related to the main issues to consider in a nonlinear simulation including both rigid and flexible components. The results underline the importance of realistic deployment times and applied forces. Also, a proper structural modeling is necessary, but can lead to excessive computational overheads.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.1221-1230
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• 2008

Inflatable rubber dams are used for controlling flood, impounding water for recreations, preventing beach erosions, diverting water for irrigations, and generating hydropower. They are long, flexible, inflated with air, cylindrical structures on a rigid horizontal foundation such as concrete. The dam is modeled as an elastic shell inflated with air. The mechanical behaviors of the inflated dam model were investigated by using the finite element method. The analysis process such as One Way Coupling Fluid-Structure Interaction consists of two steps. First, the influences of the fluid side were investigated, viz, the shape changes of the inflated rubber dam due to the fluid motions was captured when the height of the dam was 30cm with air pressure 0.01MPa, at which the pressure distributions over the surface of the dam were calculated. And next, the structural deformations were calculated using the pressure distributions. The initial inlet velocity for flow field was set to 0.1m/s. The structural deformation behaviors were investigated. The final research goal is to develop a Korean Inflatable Rubber Dam to be used for generating small hydropower.

• Advanced Composite Materials
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.319-332
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• 2008

The thermoelastic behaviors of an inflatable fabric membrane structure for use in a stratospheric airship envelope are experimentally and numerically investigated. Mechanical tensile properties of the membrane material at room, high, and low temperatures are measured using an $Instron^{(R)}$ universal testing machine and an $Instron^{(R)}$ thermal chamber. To characterize the nonlinear behavior of the inflated membrane structure due to wrinkling, the bending behavior of an inflated cylindrical boom made of a fabric membrane is observed at various pressure levels. Moreover, the envelope of a stratospheric airship is numerically modeled based on the thermoelastic properties of the fabric membrane obtained from experimental data, and the wrinkled deformed shape induced by a thermal load is analyzed.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.161-177
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• 2017

This paper presents the design considerations and field applications on inflatable structure system to protect rapidly flooding damages in large section tunnel. This inflatable structure system is very valuably used to protect passively and rapidly the possibilities of tunnel damages by flooding threats and unusual leakage to be occurred during and after underground infrastructure. In particular, this system should be necessary in subsea tunnel. The predominant factors in the design of inflatable structure system are the leakage and friction characteristics between the inflater and tunnel liner. The analytical and experimental studies are performed to develop the design considerations and to examine the design parameters of the inflatable structure system. The analytical solutions are developed using membrane theory to suggest the design considerations. The relative friction tests of several fabric materials are also carried out to determine the friction characteristics according to the different friction conditions between inflater and tunnel surface. The test results show that the friction coefficients in wet surface condition are about 20% lower than the values in dry surface condition. In addition, virtual design of tunnel protection system for two virtual subsea tunnel sites which is under reviewing in Korea, is carried out based on this research. It is expected that the results of this research will be very useful to understand the inflater structure design and development the technology of tunnel protection structures in the future.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2016

Tensairity girder is a light weight inflatable fabric structural concept which can be used in road emergency transportation. It uses low pressure air to stabilize compression elements against buckling. With the purpose of obtaining the comprehensive target of minimum deflection and weight under ultimate load, the cross-section and the inner pressure of tensairity girder was optimized in this paper. The Variable Complexity Modeling (VCM) method was used in this paper combining the Kriging approximate method with the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) method, which was implemented by ABAQUS. In the Kriging method, the sample points of the surrogate model were outlined by Design of Experiment (DOE) technique based on Optimal Latin Hypercube. The optimization framework was constructed in iSIGHT with a global optimization method, Multi-Island Genetic Algorithm (MIGA), followed by a local optimization method, Sequential Quadratic Program (SQP). The result of the optimization gives a prominent conceptual design of the tensairity girder, which approves the solution architecture of VCM is feasible and efficient. Furthermore, a useful trend of sensitivity between optimization variables and responses was performed to guide future design. It was proved that the inner pressure is the key parameter to balance the maximum Von Mises stress and deflection on tensairity girder, and the parameters of cross section impact the mass of tensairity girder obviously.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.126-133
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• 2004

Photogrammetry, as its name implies, is a 3-dimensional coordinate measuring technique that uses photographs as the fundamental medium for metrology. In the last few years the accuracy of photogrammetry has increased dramatically thanks to the rapid advance of digital camera manufacturing technique. This paper discusses photogrammetric measurement of the interface surface of MSC(Multi-Spectral Camera), which is a main payload of KOMPSAT-2. Total 24 paper targets on the objective surfaces and two scale bars calibrated with high accuracy were used for measurement, and multiple images were taken from 11 different camera angles by using a spacecraft rotation dolly. As a result of analysis, 3D coordinates of each targeted point were obtained and the flatness value based on the selected reference plane was calculated and compared with the pre-determined requirement. The technique acquired by this study is expected to be used for the 3D precise measurement of ultra-light weight and inflatable space structures such as a satellite antenna and a solar array.