Experimental research of inflatable deployment dynamics of folded membrane booms

Inflatable membrane boom used to deploy and support space structures is a key component for many space inflatable structures. Z-folded type is one kind of basic folded membrane booms. In this paper, an inflation deployment experimental system in equivalent microgravity environment is established based on air track which resolves the effect of that gravity caused friction. Non-contact photoelectricity measurement effectively avoids the disturbance of contact sensor to the inflation deployment process. The effects of different inflation flows, variant geometry dimensions and loading/unloading on deployable end on dynamic properties are researched. Inflation flow, diameter, and payload mass are chosen as main parameters in the experiment. Inflation deployment process is analyzed by dimension theory, and analysis of experimental error is carried out. The experimental results indicate that the maximal deployment velocity of the folded booms is both direct relation of gas flow and inverse relation of the boom cubic diameter.