Abstract:The folding and development performance and aerodynamic bearing capacity of the inflatable aerodynamic decelerator are two key issues in its safety evaluation. In the simulation calculation of inflation expansion dynamics, the establishment of the folding model is the basis of numerical simulation. The inflatable aerodynamic decelerator includes sub-mechanisms such as a heat shield, multiple airbag torus and straps. For such a complex structural system, it is difficult to establish a folding model that conforms to the actual situation through direct folding methods. Therefore, this paper proposes a new reverse modeling-based simulation method for folding and development dynamics of an inflatable aerodynamic decelerator. The work of this paper takes the American IRVE-3 as an example. According to its actual folding process, step-by-step mechanical loading is used for compression, and cylindrical component constraints are used to simulate staged storage, and the overall folding model is obtained. Based on the commercial software LS-DYNA and the control volume method, the expansion and forming process was simulated and calculated, and the influence of the inflation rate, inflation internal pressure on the expansion process was discussed. Through the inflatable deployment simulation, the wrinkle formation process on the structural surface was obtained, and based on this, the aerodynamic bearing analysis was conducted to study the impact of the under-deployment state on the aerodynamic bearing capacity, and the entire process simulation of inflatable deployment and aerodynamic bearing was realized. This paper proposes a new method for folding modeling of complex flexible inflatable systems, and also provides an important numerical simulation technology for the performance evaluation and optimal design of inflatable aerodynamic decelerator.