Wrinkling of Dielectric Elastomer Membranes

Wrinkling of thin membranes due to different in-plane loadings and boundary conditions has drawnattention of researchers in structural engineeringsince the development of thin webs for earlyaircraft structures. More recently pre-stressedlightweight membrane structures have been proposedfor future space missions for example solar sailsthe next generation space telescope sunshield andspace-based radar systems. These structures areoften partially wrinkled during operation. The formation of wrinkles alters the load paths and thestructural stiffness of the membranes. More importantly its occurrence degrades the surfaceaccuracy of these structures which is a key designparameter. This book focuses on wrinkling of thinsilicone rubber membranes subjected to uniaxialtensile load with clamping boundary condition andinvestigates the onset and profiles of wrinklesusing both experimental and numerical approaches. Anidea of suppressing wrinkle instabilities ofdielectric elastomer membranes using through-thickness electric field was proposed and verifiedin both experiments and numerical simulations.