Abstract
Pyroshock events during a Nanosatellite launch might lead to mission failure. Therefore, it is important to be able to simulate such events during mission design. This study introduces a procedure to perform the Nanosatellite qualification shock test using a metal-to-metal impact facility. Such a facility was constructed with a capacity to generate mechanical shock waves up to 10 000 g for an out-of-plane (OOP) impact, and 5000 g for an in-plane (IP) impact. Furthermore, several experiments were carried out to establish a calibrating procedure, for both the IP and the OOP impacts. The experiments showed that increasing the impactor mass will raise the amplitudes of the lower frequency region of the Nanosatellite shock response spectrum (SRS) curve. Furthermore, increasing the impact velocity will introduce a higher impact energy to the SRS curve. A practical and cost-effective solution was presented to overcome the IP excitation limitation, through using a commercial silicon rubber pad as an interface between the testpod and the resonating plate. This approach proved to be successful in rectifying the lower frequency region modes for the IP impact test. The measurements were successfully validated using the positive and negative SRS approach. The experimental setup was verified using 1-D and 2-D numerical elements via the commercially available finite element analysis software ABAQUS.
Highlights
A SPACECRAFT gets exposed to a variety of shock events during its service life
If the shock amplitudes occur below 3000 Hz, the tolerance condition is [−6, + 6] dB
A metal-to-metal mid-field shock testing (MFST) facility was constructed for a Nanosatellite pyroshock qualification test
Summary
A SPACECRAFT gets exposed to a variety of shock events during its service life. Shocks could be possibly induced by a rocket stage separation, a fairing jettisoning, or an antenna deployment [1]. The mid-field shock environment generates a pyroshock wave with a frequency content of 10 kHz and an amplitude between 1000 and 5000 g [3]. The space industry utilizes the maximum acceleration response spectrum to characterize a pyroshock event [5]. The boundary conditions of the FEA model were not representative of the experimental setup, which led to underestimating the actual responses This might be due to oversimplifying the numerical model and not including the bench facility and the test equipment into the analysis. Only the base structure (the resonating plate) was modeled into the FEA software to verify the experimental results Studies such as [9]–[11] have not included in their simulation the actual (complete) test items that contain the mechanical adapter and the testpod. The experiments were conducted on a 1-kg dummy CubeSat mass model
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