Non-probabilistic uncertain design for spaceborne membrane microstrip reflectarray antenna by using topology optimization

Spaceborne large aperture membrane microstrip reflectarray antenna has the characteristics of high gain, lightweight and small storage volume, which will be used in future space missions. However, there are two main reasons restricting its application. Firstly, the traditional dimensional optimization method cannot effectively affect the distribution of prestress in the membrane reflector, so it needs to increase too much mass to achieve the goal of stiffness improvement; secondly, low stiffness makes the membrane reflector more sensitive to various uncertainties. In view of this, this paper proposes a method to affect the distribution of prestress by sticking irregular shaped additional layer, and proposes a non-probabilistic uncertain topology optimization method to design the shape of additional layer. The effectiveness of the proposed methods is verified by numerical examples.

Automated summary

Spaceborne large aperture membrane microstrip reflectarray antenna has the advantages of high gain, lightweight and small storage volume, but its application is restricted due to difficulty in effectively influencing the distribution of prestress in the membrane reflector and its sensitivity to uncertainties. This paper proposes a method of affecting prestress distribution by attaching an irregular shaped additional layer and a non-probabilistic uncertain topology optimization method to design the shape of the additional layer. The effectiveness of these methods is verified through numerical examples.