Abstract
The space elevator system is a space tether system used to solve low-cost space transportation. Its high efficiency, large load, reusability and other characteristics have broad application prospects in the aerospace field. Most of the existing mechanical models are based on “chain-bar” and a lumped mass tether model, which cannot effectively reflect the flexible behaviour of the rope of space elevator system. To establish an accurate mechanical model, the gradient deficient beam elements of the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF) are used to build the mechanical model of the space elevator system. The universal gravitation and centrifugal force in the model are derived. The calculation results of the ANCF model are compared with the results of the finite element method (FEM) and lumped mass (LM) models. The results show that the calculation results of the ANCF method are not very different from the results of the FEM and LM models in the case of axial loading. In the case of lateral loading, the calculation results of the ANCF method are basically the same as the results of the FEM and LM models, but can better reflect the local flexible deformation of the space elevator rope, and have a better calculation stability than FEM. Under the same calculation accuracy, the ANCF method can use fewer elements, and the speed of convergence is faster than the FEM and LM models.
Highlights
As a potential new space transportation system for transporting the payload to outer space, the main structure of the space elevator system mainly consists of four parts: ground anchor point, rope, climber and zenith anchor
Shi [6] studied the dynamics of a partial space elevator system with multiple climbers and applied the optimal control to develop optimal operation modes to suppress the liberation of the partial space elevator
This is because the deformation represented by lumped mass (LM) and finite element method (FEM) is Cauchy stress and true strain, which is defined by studying the force acting on an infinitesimal area element in a deformed body
Summary
As a potential new space transportation system for transporting the payload to outer space, the main structure of the space elevator system mainly consists of four parts: ground anchor point, rope, climber and zenith anchor. The whole system relies on the centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the earth to keep the system stable and transport the payload through the climber. To fully understand the potential commercial application of space elevator, the International Space Elevator Association (ISEC) introduced the concept of Galaxy port [4]. Through the life cycle assessment of the space elevator, Harris [5] found that the design of the space elevator is an environmentally and economically sustainable choice for rail transportation. Shi [6] studied the dynamics of a partial space elevator system with multiple climbers and applied the optimal control to develop optimal operation modes to suppress the liberation of the partial space elevator
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