Wrinkling simulation of membrane structure

Abstract

Due to a high ratio of load carrying capacity to self weight, membrane is widely used in various applications such as gossamer space structures One major design issue that is inherent to membrane structures is the formation of wrinkling patterns. In this paper, a geometrically nonlinear, updated Lagrangian shell formulation is employed using the ABAQUS finite element code to simulate the formation of wrinkled deformations in thinfilm membranes. Two effective modeling strategies are introduced to facilitate convergent solutions of wrinkled equilibrium states. Several numerical studies are carried out, and the results are compared with recent experimental data. Good agreement is observed between the numerical simulations and experimental data.