Wide Span Structures using Pressurized Airbeams

The Army, and other military and civilian organizations, have a need for large shelters that are air-transportable and rapidly erected in austere conditions. For example, the Army requires an Aviation Maintenance Shelter (AMS) having approximately 75 ft span. Recent advances in high pressure inflatable structures use a braiding process to fabricate seamless airbeams and to make curved airbeams economically on straight mandrels. Examples of this type of construction to date have been shown to be structurally efficient, robust and relatively economical. Airbeams of up to 30 ft span have been successfully demonstrated and a beam of 60 ft span is currently under development. The object of this research is to extend current techniques and designs to wider span structures. The proposed research includes investigations in six key areas of shelter loads, airbeam design, and shelter system elements. The scope of the research is bounded by applying the requirements published for the Army's Aviation Maintenance Shelter (AMS) as a baseline. The results are brought together in a design for an AMS structural module and the construction of a reduced-scale structural module to demonstrate the design and its characteristics. Wide span shelters have a number of military and civilian uses. These include vehicle and aircraft maintenance, disaster relief material storage, and personnel environmental shelter. This technology is needed for aircraft evacuation slides for tall aircraft, and could also be used for temporary bridges.