AIAA 2003-1982 Prediction of Wrinkle Amplitudes in Square Solar Sails

This paper considers an idealised solar sail consisting of a uniform, elastic, isotropic square membrane that is prestressed by two pairs of equal and opposite forces applied at the corners. Two wrinkling regimes are identified. The first regime occurs for symmetric and moderately asymmetric loading; it is characterised by small, radial corner wrinkles. The second regime occurs for strongly asymmetric loading and is characterised by a single, large diagonal wrinkle, plus small radial corner wrinkles. An analytical method for predicting wrinkle wavelengths and out-of-plane wrinkle displacements, as well as in-plane corner displacements of the membrane, is presented. The analytical predictions are validated against experimental measurements and detailed finite element simulation results. The accuracy achieved is typically better than 20% on wavelengths and 30% on amplitudes. Finite element analysis using thin shell elements is shown to be able to replicate real physical experimentation with an accuracy better than 20%.