Design of High Stability Space Tube

Laminate Design of a composite tube for a space telescope(Fig. 1) under hygrothermal load is studied. Carpet plots for laminate effective engineering constants are generated and used for selecting the best tube lay-ups satisfying the optomechanical requirements for a space telescope being dimensional1y stable under orbital thermal loading. Despace of the tubes constructed with the selected lay-ups are calculated with a Zig-Zag Triangular Element which accurately represents through thickness stress variations for laminated structures. The effects of moisture absorption when exposed to humidity environment and moisture desorption through outgassing on the dimensional stability are also investigated.