My research activity focuses on the structural conception and engineering development of lightweight pressurized modules for extraterrestrial habitats, with particular emphasis on lunar applications. The main objective is to investigate new configurations that integrate deployability and inflatability requirements while exploiting innovative concepts based on meta-materials and meta-structures. The research addresses two primary themes: (i) Study of possible new configurations for lightweight pressurized modules by integrating deployability and inflatability, and by using novel concepts for meta-materials and/or meta-structures; (ii) Analysis, design, and development of innovative meta-material and meta-structure concepts aimed at improving thermal insulation, vibration mitigation, and micrometeorite protection, also considering in-situ multi-scale 3D printing strategies. Within this framework, several geometric configurations for lunar pressurized habitats have been investigated. A parametric MATLAB tool has been developed to generate candidate geometries as a function of the required habitable volume (which represents a key design driver for space habitats). The tool allows rapid exploration of architectural configurations while maintaining geometric consistency with deployment and pressurization constraints. A multi-parameter optimization study was conducted to determine the optimal floor position, maximizing both habitable height and usable floor width. Once the geometry was selected, structural sizing of the restrain layer was performed under internal pressurization loads. Subsequently, numerical investigations were carried out. Static and modal validations were performed using FEMAP to verify structural response and natural frequencies. A dedicated study on pressurization load profiles was conducted to avoid destructive dynamic excitation phenomena. The numerical validation was then extended to dynamic analysis using LS-DYNA to assess transient structural behavior. Current efforts are focused on multibody kinematic modeling of the deployment mechanism using ADAMS, with the aim of estimating the actuation forces required for the proposed deployment strategy.

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