Deployment dynamics modeling and analysis for mesh reflector antennas considering the motion feasibility

Abstract

Mesh reflector antennas have been widely used in space satellites for their characteristics of large aperture, low levels of total mass, stowed volume, surface distortion, etc. The antenna turns from a stowed state to a fully deployed configuration and finally forms a required functional surface, and this deployment process affects the performances of antennas on orbit. The dynamic modeling and analysis for the deployment of mesh reflector antennas considering the rigid body rotation of rods, the geometric nonlinearity of the cable net, and the rigid-flexible coupling of the truss and the cable net are presented in this paper. Instead of the previous lumped mass model, the mass of hinges is concentrated on their centroids and the longerons, battens, and diagonals are regarded as homogeneous rods in the study. By this model, the rigid body motion of rods can be well considered in the calculation of kinetic energies rather than be ignored in previous researches. Then, the cable net is discretized into multiple cable elements that are modeled by springs. The slacked and tensioned state of cable elements during deployment are captured by updating the stiffness matrix real-timely. The elastic energy of the cable net is derived by solving systematic equilibrium equations. The dynamic model is established by using Lagrange equation, and then the driving force under the predesigned motion is derived. The “ideal deployment motion” and “feasible deployment motion” are proposed and discussed through several numerical examples. Simulation results match well with experimental data in previous literature.