Deployable & Inflatable Structures for Space Exploration, Astronomical Observation, & the Development of Advanced Technologies

Abstract:

This advanced doctoral course provides a rigorous overview of deployable and inflatable space structures, with emphasis on the mechanics, materials, and verification methods required to realize large, lightweight systems that exceed launch vehicle fairing constraints. The course contrasts kinematic deployables (hinged, telescoping, tape-spring and boom-based architectures) with pneumatically deployed inflatables, framing both within a unified set of performance drivers: packaging efficiency, post deployment stiffness, dimensional stability, and robustness to space environmental hazards. Building on representative mission classes students will develop quantitative understanding of key phenomena that govern feasibility and reliability, including deployment dynamics, joint and contact nonlinearities, wrinkling and buckling of thin membranes, viscoelastic effects, thermal–structural coupling, and stability requirements.

The course will also cover material and subsystem selection (composites, high-performance fabrics and films, coatings and multilayer insulation, restraint and inflation systems) and will critically examine damage tolerance and risk mitigation strategies for micrometeoroid/orbital-debris impacts and radiation/thermal cycling. Finally, the course connects analysis to practice through qualification and validation pipelines, i.e. ground testing limits, gravity offload, deployment cycling, thermal-vacuum testing, and correlation of reduced-order and high-fidelity numerical models, using case studies (e.g., ISS expandable modules and large deployable observatories) to highlight best practices and open research problems. By the end, students will be able to formulate architecture trade studies, define verifiable requirements, and propose research-grade modeling and test campaigns for next-generation large deployable/inflatable systems.

Bibliography

Miura, K. and Pellegrino, S., 2020. Forms and concepts for lightweight structures. Cambridge University Press.
Augello, R., Pagani, A., Carrera, E. and Andrea Iannotta, D., 2022. Stress and failure onset analysis of thin composite deployables by global/local approach. AIAA Journal, 60(10), pp.5954-5966.
Augello, R. and Pellegrino, S., 2025. Vibration Damping of Thin-Shell Deployable Structures Through Local Buckling. In AIAA SCITECH 2025 Forum (p. 0693).
Pagani, A., Augello, R. and Carrera, E., 2023. Numerical simulation of deployable ultra-thin composite shell structures for space applications and comparison with experiments. Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures, 30(8), pp.1591-1603.
Augello, R. and Pellegrino, S., 2025. Implicit Folding Simulation of Ultrathin Shells Using Refined One-Dimensional Finite Elements. AIAA Journal, 63(12), pp.5405-5415.
Augello, R., Carrera, E. and Pellegrino, S., 2024. Implicit vs. explicit nonlinear dynamics for the unfolding of deployable space structures using advanced one-dimensional finite elements.
Augello, R., Pagani, A. and Carrera, E., 2023, June. Nonlinear global/local stress and free-edge analysis of ultra-thin composite deployable booms. In ASME Aerospace Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference (Vol. 87141, p. V001T01A025). American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Short Bio

Riccardo Augello is a Postdoctoral Fellow under the Marie Sktodowska-Curie Actions, which is a researcher mobility programme funded by the European Commission. Augello received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Politecnico di Torino, Italy, in February, 2021. His research project focused on the development of advanced mathematical theories based on nonlocal mechanics for the geometrical nonlinear analysis of composite structures. Augello joined Caltech in March 2023 as a part of his European research project “NOnlinear analysis for VIrTual design of composite deployAble Space booms and membranes” (NOVITAS). The project aims to generate novel advances in the mathematical modelling of ultra-thin deployable and foldable composite structures.

Online attendance: 

Information on remote participation can be requested by sending an e-mail to dn_sst@unitn.it