Analysis of coiling and deployment of a bistable composite boom with a penetration-free contact simulation procedure

Bistable deployable composite booms (bi-DCB) made of carbon fiber reinforcement polymer (CFRP) are widely utilized as supporting and driving components in deployable space membrane structures. This paper presents a simulation procedure for the coiling and deployment process of the bi-DCB based on the absolute nodal coordinate formulation. Before the deployment analysis is performed, a quasi-static analysis is performed to establish the stable coiled configuration of the bi-DCB. A novel penetration-free contact simulation method is introduced, which comprises a penetration check module and adjustment modules for coordinate updates during each Newton–Raphson iteration. This method effectively simulates both boom-to-boom and boom-to-roller contact. CFRP bi-DCBs are fabricated, and experiments utilizing a motion capture system are carried out to validate the simulation results pertaining to the coiling and deployment processes. The findings indicate that the proposed approach agrees well with the experimental results, both in terms of stable coiled configuration and deployment trajectory. A noticeable deviation in deployment speed is observed between simulation and experimental results, with the difference primarily attributed to multiple damping mechanisms including viscous damping, friction, and air resistance.