Panel flutter mechanism of rectangular solar sails based on traveling mode analysis

Abstract

The solar radiation pressure acting on the sail surface provides a force, which depends on the deformation of the surface itself, and thus the coupling between the force and the deformation may lead to flutter. The panel flutter mechanism of two-dimensional solar sail subjected to solar radiation pressure is investigated in this study based on the traveling mode analysis. The partial differential equations governing the panel vibrations are truncated into a set of ordinary differential equations. Two types of flutter have been detected, namely, traditional coupled-mode flutter and novel coupled-direction flutter especially existing in two-dimensional cases. Varying mode shapes with solar radiation pressure and critical values have been studied by considering the eigenvalue problem. By studying the mode shapes in standing wave contour or traveling wave contour, the flutter phenomena have been described based on the mechanism of energy accumulation.