Abstract: The new generation launch vehicles are encountered with the strong coupling problem between the structural dynamics and the control system, which would influence the flight stability. To address this challenge, a modeling and simulation approach based on the Multibody dynamic virtual prototype is presented so as to solve the verifying difficulty of the attitude dynamic model through ground tests. In this paper, the basic idea of applying the multibody virtual prototype in the attitude dynamics analysis of a launch vehicle is described firstly; then the difference between the multibody dynamics model and the traditional rocket attitude dynamics model is analyzed, and the significance of introducing the multibody simulation technology is pointed out; and finally, aiming at the new generation launch vehicles, a multibody virtual prototype modeling method is proposed and implemented, and the correctness of the new generation launch vehicles’ attitude dynamics model as well as the control parameters is simulated and tested. The research of this paper shows that the multibody dynamic virtual prototype simulation is an effective method to solve the complex dynamic coupling problems in space vehicle system design.

Key words: Multibody dynamics, Launch vehicle, Dynamic coupling; Attitude control