Shape Control of Laminated Antenna Reflector using Piezoelectric Actuators

摘要

The accuracy and performance of space-based antenna depends greatly on the shape of its reflector. Manufacturing defects and thermal distortion introduce undesirable errors in the shape of antenna reflectors. Moreover, in active aperture antenna applications, shape of the antenna has to be changed for beam steering and shaping. With this motivation, a laminated general quadrilateral shell element with nine nodes and curved edges is developed for studying the deformation of laminated shell like structures actuated by piezoelectric patches. The governing equations are based on the linear theory of piezoelectricity and thin shell assumption. The laminated element developed Is then used to perform a static analysis of typical antenna reflector for beam shaping, beam steering and for controlling thermally induced distortion. Numerical results indicate that shape of antenna reflector can be controlled through the application of suitable electric potential applied to the piezoelectric patches placed on the surface of antenna reflector.