A design procedure for a tension-wire stiffened truss-column

Abstract

A deployable, tension wire stiffened, truss column configuration was considered for space structure applications. An analytical procedure, developed for design of the truss column and exercised in numerical studies, was based on equivalent beam stiffness coefficients in the classical analysis for an initially imperfect beam column. Failure constraints were formulated to be used in a combined weight/strength and nonlinear mathematical programming automated design procedure to determine the minimum mass column for a particular combination of design load and length. Numerical studies gave the mass characteristics of the truss column for broad ranges of load and length. Comparisons of the truss column with a baseline tubular column used a special structural efficiency parameter for this class of columns.