Vibrational Stabilization of Flexible Structures

It has been demonstrated that a high frequency excitation (HFE) field significantly changes the fundamental properties of mechanical systems. The most important contribution of HFE is the stiffening effect of an elastic continuum in the direction of the wave vector. This effect allows control of stiffness in any selected direction by the corresponding changes in the intensity of HFE. This new approach can be effective for large flexible space structures. Such an approach may prove to be very practical in the sense that large structures need to be made as flimsy as possible for low cost under ordinary situations. However, for certain operations such as development, orbital transfer, docking, and other circumstances, it would be vital to have a means of temporarily stiffening certain structural members. If the structure was designed to meet these occasional loads without temporary stiffening, it would be considerably more massive and more expensive.