Numerical simulations for gas-structure interaction in inflated deployment of folded membrane boom

It is very important for gas-structure interaction between compressible ideal gas and elastic structure of space folded membrane booms during the inflatable deployment. In order to study this gas-structure interaction problem, Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) finite element method was employed. Gas-structure interaction equation was built based on equilibrium integration relationship, and solved by operator split method. In addition, numerical analysis of V-shape folded membrane booms inflated by gas was given, the variation of inner pressure as well as deployment velocities of inflatable boom at different stage were simulated. Moreover, these results are consistent with the experiment of the same boom, which shows that both ALE method and operator split method are feasible and reliable methods to study gas-structure interaction problem.