• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.108-113
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• 2005

Strucutral and hygrothermal analysis for a composite tube is carried out in this study, that provides critical parameters for the design of a highly dimensionally stable space telescope. Carpet plots for laminate effective engineering constants are generated and used for the best tube lay-ups with high elastic modulus and highly insensitive to thermal and moisture expansion, which is essential for maintaining optical alignment of opto-mechanical system under random force applied during a launch campaign and orbital thermal load. Despace in the longitudinal direction under hygrothermal load of the tubes constructed with the selected lay-ups is calculated for the validation of lay-up designs on the dimensionalstability. Dynamic analysis is also carried out to feature the resonant behaviour. A zig-zag triangular element accurately representing through thickness stress variations for laminated structures is developed in this study and incorporated into the structural and hygrothermal analysis.