[[File:Field control tower P1220950.jpg|thumb|right|A field deployable control tower]] A '''deployable structure''' is a structure that can change shape so as to significantly change its size.<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/dp/3211836853 S. Pellegrino (Ed.), ''Deployable Structures,'' CISM International Center for Mechanical Sciences, Springer, 2002]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www-civ.eng.cam.ac.uk/dsl/|title=Deployable Structures}}</ref>
Examples of deployable structures are umbrellas, some tensegrity structures, bistable structures, some Origami shapes and scissor-like structures. Deployable structures are also used on spacecraft for deploying solar panels and solar sails.
Space-based deployable structures can be categorized into three primary classes: the first is the articulated structure class wherein rigid members contain sliding contact joints or are folded at hinge points and pivot to deploy, often locking into place. The second class consists of on-orbit assembly where a device is fabricated and/or mechanically joined in space to form the structure. The final class is high strain structures (often composed of High strain composites) wherein the device is dramatically flexed from one configuration to another during deployment.
==Gallery==
<gallery> File:Scissor Tower.gif|Scissor-type structure File:Scissor Tower3.gif|Multiple scissor-type structure File:Hoberman Mechanism.gif|Simple Hoberman mechanism File:Radially Fording Structure.gif|Compound Hoberman mechanism File:Deployable Structure1.gif|Outward folding deployable ring structure File:Deployable Structure2.gif|Inward folding deployable ring structure File:Nustar mast deployed v2.jpg|NuSTAR mast in the stowed configuration. File:Nustar mast deployed.jpg|NuSTAR mast deployed. </gallery>
==See also== * Engineering mechanics * Four-bar linkage * Kinematics * Linkage (mechanical) * Machine * Outline of machines * Overconstrained mechanism * Parallel motion * Slider-crank linkage * Compliant mechanism
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{Commonscatinline}} *[http://www-civ.eng.cam.ac.uk/dsl/publications.html University of Cambridge Deployable structures department publications]
Category:Linkages (mechanical) Category:Structural engineering