Finite element analysis of carbon fibre composite adaptive mirrors

With the advent of the new generation of ground-based telescopes with primary sizes of 30-100 m, adaptive optics (AO) technology is in rapid development. One important area of research is that of integration of AO into the telescope's operation. A possible solution for this is the use of an ada...

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Main Authors: Kendrew, S, Doel, P
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2004
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author Kendrew, S
Doel, P
author_facet Kendrew, S
Doel, P
author_sort Kendrew, S
collection OXFORD
description With the advent of the new generation of ground-based telescopes with primary sizes of 30-100 m, adaptive optics (AO) technology is in rapid development. One important area of research is that of integration of AO into the telescope's operation. A possible solution for this is the use of an adaptive secondary mirror. However, for a secondary of several meters in size, this presents many problems in choice of material, as well as design for the adaptive control. An active mirror prototype made out of a carbon fibre composite material (CFC) is under development at University College London in collaboration with QinetiQ and Cobham Composites. We present here results from finite element analysis of this mirror, as well as modelling results of an adaptive secondary mirror section as might be developed for the new class of telescopes. These results indicate that CFC could indeed present a viable alternative to more traditional deformable mirror materials.
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spelling oxford-uuid:44e4ae6c-e26b-4b06-9c5f-5d84a0fe3ac32022-03-26T15:04:28ZFinite element analysis of carbon fibre composite adaptive mirrorsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:44e4ae6c-e26b-4b06-9c5f-5d84a0fe3ac3EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2004Kendrew, SDoel, PWith the advent of the new generation of ground-based telescopes with primary sizes of 30-100 m, adaptive optics (AO) technology is in rapid development. One important area of research is that of integration of AO into the telescope's operation. A possible solution for this is the use of an adaptive secondary mirror. However, for a secondary of several meters in size, this presents many problems in choice of material, as well as design for the adaptive control. An active mirror prototype made out of a carbon fibre composite material (CFC) is under development at University College London in collaboration with QinetiQ and Cobham Composites. We present here results from finite element analysis of this mirror, as well as modelling results of an adaptive secondary mirror section as might be developed for the new class of telescopes. These results indicate that CFC could indeed present a viable alternative to more traditional deformable mirror materials.
spellingShingle Kendrew, S
Doel, P
Finite element analysis of carbon fibre composite adaptive mirrors
title Finite element analysis of carbon fibre composite adaptive mirrors
title_full Finite element analysis of carbon fibre composite adaptive mirrors
title_fullStr Finite element analysis of carbon fibre composite adaptive mirrors
title_full_unstemmed Finite element analysis of carbon fibre composite adaptive mirrors
title_short Finite element analysis of carbon fibre composite adaptive mirrors
title_sort finite element analysis of carbon fibre composite adaptive mirrors
work_keys_str_mv AT kendrews finiteelementanalysisofcarbonfibrecompositeadaptivemirrors
AT doelp finiteelementanalysisofcarbonfibrecompositeadaptivemirrors