AN IMPROVED STRESS ANALYSIS OF AN ASCENDING BALLOON

THIS RESEARCH ATTEMPTS TO ADVANCE THE STATE-OF-THE-ART OF BALLOON DESIGN BY DEVELOPING A METHOD TO REALISTICALLY APPROXIMATE THE STRESS LEVELS IN AN ASCENDING BALLOON. THE APPROACH WILL BE TO COMBINE EXISTING STUDIES ON ASCENT SHAPES, MATERIAL PROPERTIES, AND HEAT TRANSFER MECHANISMS TO PRODUCE A FIRST ORDER ESTIMATE OF STRESSES IN THE WALL OF A BALLOON WITH EITHER INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL CAPS. THE FACTOR OF SAFETY WHICH IS COMMONLY USED IN THE DESIGN OF ROCKET AND SATELLITE STRUCTURES WILL BE INTRODUCEDTO THE DESIGN OF BALLOONS. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE COMPLEX MODULUS WHICH IS OBTAINED AT A FIXED FREQUENCY, AND THE RELAXATION MODULUS WHICH IS OBTAINED AT A FIXED STRAIN, WILL BE DOCUMENTED AND A METHOD DEVELOPED FOR THE INTERCHANGE OF DATA.