Complicated nonlinear oscillations caused by maneuvering
of a flexible spacecraft equipped with hinged solar arrays
G. He, D. Cao & G.H.M. van der Heijden
We present a general methodology for the nonlinear dynamical modeling of a
three-axis stabilized spacecraft equipped with flexible solar arrays. The
large-span multi-panel solar arrays are modeled as flexible thin plates
that are connected to the rigid central body of the spacecraft by means of
nonlinear flexible hinges. We construct a low-dimensional yet accurate
dynamical model by using a Galerkin expansion in terms of global modes of
the system that we compute first by using the Rayleigh-Ritz method. The
hinged connections between the rigid and flexible parts of the system are
imposed employing Lagrange multipliers. The model is used to study the
spacecraft response triggered by various maneuvering scenarios. We in
particular focus on the coupling between vibrations of the flexible
components and the rigid motion of the spacecraft induced by hinge
nonlinearities during these orbital and attitude maneuvering operations.
In all cases considered, it is found that four global modes are sufficient
to accurately compute the system's response. We also observe other
complicated nonlinear dynamical phenomena, such as hysteresis and
superharmonic resonance that may be of concern in spacecraft design. Our
modeling approach can be applied to other multibody systems directly.
keywords: large-scale flexible spacecraft, nonlinear flexible hinges,
analytical global modes, low-dimensional and high-precision model,
nonlinear rigid-flexible coupling responses
Nonlinear Dynamics 111 6261-6293 (2023)