Abstract
A technique is introduced for the determination of exact joint locations in deployable truss structures that are foldable onto either a plane or line. It is shown that the distance of each joint from a nodal center, i.e. a point of intersection of the longitudinal axes of connected struts, can be determined by generating a stacking sequence in one or two directions (foldable onto either a plane or line) for the struts in the folded configuration. The feasibility of a design is then tested by attempting to construct the folded configuration such that no interference of struts occurs. It is demonstrated that many unique stacking sequences may be possible for a given deployable structure, leading to many unique folded configurations. Criteria for optimum design solutions are addressed and examples of the implementation of this technique are provided.
