Boom Packaging with Yoshimura Pattern: Geometrical and Deformation Analysis

A number of folding mechanisms have been proposed for spaceborne deployable booms/masts based on origami patterns. The packaging and deployment of a cylindrical boom with Yoshimura pattern are analyzed in this paper. At first, the detailed design of the Yoshimura pattern is discussed, and geometrical expressions for various important parameters like radius of packaged boom, packaging efficiency and inside residual volume after complete folding are obtained to investigate the packaging behavior of the boom. Then, the deployment of a single story Yoshimura cylinder is simulated using FE software ABAQUS. The folded shape of the boom is modeled using pin-jointed wireframe technique, and a uniform nodal displacement is provided to the top polygon, and corresponding axial strains in the fold lines are analyzed numerically. The influence of the number of origami units on packaging and deformation behavior is also discussed. The results show that the fold line deformation decreases as the number of origami units increases, but this also decreases the packaging efficiency of the boom. Moreover, the expansion coefficient is defined to relate the circumferential strain with applied longitudinal strain.