Design Tools for Lightweight Affordable Hybrid Space Exploration Cryotanks

NASA has identified a need for new technologies in support of human exploration of the Moon and manned missions to Mars that will reduce the cost of exploration, enable efficient and reliable operations in extreme environments, and implement advanced in-space assembly techniques within state-of-the-art space structures.nbsp; Improvements in each of these design and manufacturing areas are critical to enabling a sustainable Lunar and Mars presence by the U.S.nbsp; While many current composite designs are limited to unidirectional fiber layups and stacking sequences, NanoSonic shall utilize filament winding for ultra-high strength complex shaped composites with optimized isotropic load paths rather than quasi-isotropic properties.nbsp; Highly tailored materials using additive manufacturing techniques are NanoSonicrsquo;s expertise.nbsp; In this STTR, we have teamed with Virginia Techrsquo;s (VT) composite coding experts to predictively yield repeatable and reliable multifunctional lightweight hybrid structures through design tools.nbsp; NanoSonic will collaborate with VT to develop unique composite property analysis software via Abaqus and Python. Abaqus is a finite element analysis software. Coupled with Python scripting, the components of a geometrical model including the parts, materials, properties, steps, mechanical or thermal loads, shall be inputted in an automated manner to evaluate and estimate a proposed compositersquo;s behavior under certain conditions.nbsp;