Nonlinear characteristics of revolute joints with clearance

The nonlinear contact characteristic of revolute joint with clearance can degrade the performance of deployable structure. In this article, tensile and compressive tests are adopted to investigate the accuracies of the simplest conformal model and nonconformal model for contact, which are used to calculate the revolute joint deformation. In order to study the applicability of the two models, different clearances of joints are introduced in the tests. The results of the two contact models do not well agree with the experimental results. A model for the calculation of contact force and deformation of revolute joint, considering geometric constraints and cylinder contact characteristic, is presented. By comparison with the simplest conformal model and nonconformal model for contact, the proposed model is more accurate to calculate the nonlinear contact of revolute joint. The theoretical and experimental analysis of revolute joint with clearance is helpful to improve the reliability of deployable structure simulation.