Comparison of Damping Models for Space Flight Cables

Abstract

A model to predict the dynamic response of space flight cables is developed. Despite the influence of cable harnesses on space structures’ dynamics, a predictive model for quantifying the damping effects is not available. To further this research, hysteretic and proportional viscous damping were incorporated in Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam models to predict the dynamic response of a typical space flight cable, using hysteretic dissipation functions to characterize the damping mechanism. The Euler-Bernoulli beam model was used to investigate the hysteresis functions specifically, and it was determined that including hysteretic dissipation functions in the equations of motion was not sufficient to model the additional modes arising in damped cables; additional damping coordinates in the method of Golla, Hughes and McTavish will be necessary to predict damping behavior when using dissipation functions for this case. A Timoshenko model that included viscous and time hysteresis damping was developed as well, and will ultimately be more appropriate for cable modeling due to the inclusion of shear and rotary inertia terms and damping coefficients.