Sensitivity Study on Optimizing Thickness Distribution for a Membrane Reflector

Inflatable membrane reflectors are widely used in space and terrestrial deployable antennas. The mechanical properties of the inflated membrane reflector, however, are often a limiting factor in the level of the surface accuracy that can be achieved. In this study, membrane structural analysis is combined with sizing optimization to tailor the thickness of the membrane to improve surface accuracy of an axisymmetric parabolic inflated membrane reflector. Two reflector surface accuracy evaluation methods are employed in the optimizer and researched about their effect on the sensitivity analysis. Gradient-based optimization is employed together with a simplified sensitivity analysis, and the resulting algorithm is demonstrated on a membrane reflector case study. A linear thickness filter is used to avoid checkerboard patterns, and optimized solutions are computationally shown to achieve a feasible level of surface accuracy.