Structural design and analysis of a 50 m fully steerable pulsar radio telescope

A radio telescope of 50 m in diameter, basically, for pulsar observation, is to work at multi-wave bands among which the shortest wavelength is 13 cm. Proposed is a fully steerable exposed truss structure scheme of the telescope. The design is essentially a wheel-on-track style radio telescope with 6 rollers in three bodies for azimuth drive and support, while two sets of gear wheel for elevation drive. The main reflector is a mesh with crimped stainless steel wire spanned on a "bowl-like" back-up truss structure which is supported by 6 points on its bottom. After discussion of structural design and related dead-load analysis, wind and thermal disturbances are estimated. Particularly, response spectrum seismic hazard is performed with response spectra analysis. The results confirm that the 50 m radio telescope can meet the observational requirements and survive seismic hazard of acceleration of 0.1 gravity with a light and cost-effective structure.