Abstract:

Owing to the large deformation, non-continuity and contact/impact, the simulation for the deployment of the large scaled solar arrays is faced with great numerical difficulty. In this paper, based on the co-rotational formulation and the plate/shell theory without rotation, a multibody dynamic model of a flexible solar array is established by considering the geometrically nonlinear effect of flexible battery cell and the contact/impact between the battery plates. Then the numerical simulation of the deployment process of the large solar cell array is carried out, and the complex dynamic phenomena in the development process are analyzed. The results given by this study show the features of the response, the stress distribution and the regular pattern of the contact between the base plates. This work can be referred to design and optimize the large scaled solar arrays in the space station, and it can be easily extended to the simulation for other large scaled space structures.

Key words: Solar array, Flexible multibody system, Large deformation, Contact/impact, Deployment dynamics