Design of Variable Airship Mechanism Based on Finite Element Method

Variable airship is an important research direction because it can overcome the difficulties in climbing phase caused by huge volume, and can also solve the problem of insufficient strength. The requirements of variation bring significant challenges for the airship structural design. In this paper, a radial variation mechanism was proposed based on an existing airship. The mechanism can achieve a continuous variation of the cross-sectional area from 100 to 7.2 percent. The airship structure was analyzed using the finite element method to make sure the airship has a high safety margin in various conditions.