Active shape adjustment of cable net structures with PZT actuators

Active shape adjustment of cable net structures is becoming significant when large-size cable net structures are widely applied in various fields, especially in satellite antennas. The main objective of this paper is three-fold. First, the finite element model of cable net structure with active cables is established. The active cable is constructed by incorporating a PZT actuator into flexible cables. Second, based on the finite element model, the shape adjustment method is proposed to find the optimal actuation voltages for the desired shape. The adjustment models include an analytical solution without constraints and two optimization models with constraints which are evaluated by the quadratic criterion and minmax scheme respectively. Finally, the numerical examples of the flexible cable net structure widely applied to the parabolic reflectors of space antennas have been analyzed. It is found that the quadratic criterion performs better than the minmax scheme for solving shape adjustment problem of cable net structures, and the surface accuracy of the cable net structure with active cables can be well improved by PZT actuators.