Abstract: The inflatable membrane truss structures can be used in the deployable parts and supporting structures of large inflatable membrane spacecraft. A collaborative fold design scheme of inflatable membrane truss structures was studied. Firstly, the geometric relationship of the folded state for the skin structure was formulated. To be geometrically suitable for the folded state of the skin structure, the fold scheme of inflatable truss was designed. Thus the collaborative fold design method was established and the parameterized model was obtained. Synchronous folding in both horizontal and vertical directions was realized, with a horizontal folding ratio of 2.67 and a vertical folding ratio of 8.82. Based on the improved spring-particle system, the dynamic simulation of inflatable process of the inflatable membrane truss structures was completed. The dynamic behaviors and parameters of the inflatable process were obtained. The simulation results show that deployment process is stable and reliable without any physical interference among all components. The collaborative fold design scheme is proved to be useful and can provide technical support for the engineering application of this kind of structures.

Key words: inflatable membrane truss structures, collaborative fold design, origami, inflatable deployment dynamics, skin structure