Bio-inspired design of an inflatable deployable structure

Abstract

The biomimetic principle applied in the deployable structure design process has important significances in engineering reality. Principle in nature provides numerous design solutions for innovative deployable structures. Meanwhile, it has initiated a new area for biomimetic research. In this paper, the mechanism of butterfly eclosion deploy process is introduced. According to the butterfly wings eclosion development process, a type of deployable structure is proposed. Optimization design is put forward according to problem which is finding on the early-developed prototype. The optimized results prompt a new deployable structure with much better mechanical characteristics and structural performance. And then, an inflatable deployable structure prototype is developed. Finally, experiment successfully demonstrates the bio-inspired principle of above proposed inflatable deployable structure