Wrinkling of thin membranes due to different in-
plane loadings and boundary conditions has drawn
attention of researchers in structural engineering
since the development of thin webs for early
aircraft structures. More recently, pre-stressed
lightweight membrane structures have been proposed
for future space missions, for example solar sails,
the next generation space telescope sunshield and
space-based radar systems. These structures are
often partially wrinkled during operation. The
formation of wrinkles alters the load paths and the
structural stiffness of the membranes. More
importantly its occurrence degrades the surface
accuracy of these structures, which is a key design
parameter. This book focuses on wrinkling of thin
silicone rubber membranes subjected to uniaxial
tensile load with clamping boundary condition, and
investigates the onset and profiles of wrinkles
using both experimental and numerical approaches. An
idea of suppressing wrinkle instabilities of
dielectric elastomer membranes using through-
thickness electric field was proposed and verified
in both experiments and numerical simulations.
plane loadings and boundary conditions has drawn
attention of researchers in structural engineering
since the development of thin webs for early
aircraft structures. More recently, pre-stressed
lightweight membrane structures have been proposed
for future space missions, for example solar sails,
the next generation space telescope sunshield and
space-based radar systems. These structures are
often partially wrinkled during operation. The
formation of wrinkles alters the load paths and the
structural stiffness of the membranes. More
importantly its occurrence degrades the surface
accuracy of these structures, which is a key design
parameter. This book focuses on wrinkling of thin
silicone rubber membranes subjected to uniaxial
tensile load with clamping boundary condition, and
investigates the onset and profiles of wrinkles
using both experimental and numerical approaches. An
idea of suppressing wrinkle instabilities of
dielectric elastomer membranes using through-
thickness electric field was proposed and verified
in both experiments and numerical simulations.