Abstract
The conceptual design of a self-deployable structure with flexible joints is presented in this paper. Joints store elastic energy in the folded, prestressed position and allow deployment until they are stopped by tendons. A study on a wire rope joint is first presented to determine its mechanical behavior with experimental, theoretical, and numerical approaches. An analysis is then performed on a bidimensional structure to propose the specific modeling of introducing prestress to the joints. The method is applied to a spatial system in an analysis that uses static equilibrium and kinematic deployment simulations. The results show good concordance among the different approaches.