Study on the coupled dynamics of rigid-liquid-flexible spacecraft by using isogeometric analysis for liquid sloshing

Abstract

This paper focuses on the dynamics of a spacecraft coupled with propellant sloshing and flexible appendage vibration, which may lead to the inaccuracy and instability of the attitude control of spacecraft. The propellant sloshing is modeled and simulated by isogeometric analysis, combined with the level set method used for free surface tracking. A semi-slip boundary condition is proposed specifically for the numerical simulation procedure of liquid sloshing in a cylindrical tank. Based on the unique spatial mapping of isogeometric analysis, a method for evolving the level set function in the parameter domain of isogeometric analysis is presented. The vibration of a flexible solar panel is modeled based on the Kirchhoff–Love plate theory and the modal analysis method. The rigid-liquid-flexible coupled system of the spacecraft is divided into three modules coupled through interaction forces and torques. The effectiveness of the proposed modeling method for the rigid-liquid-flexible coupled spacecraft is verified by comparing with published experimental and analytical results. The simulation results show that due to the coupling effect, the small-amplitude liquid sloshing will cause a larger vibration of the flexible appendage, thus affecting the stability of spacecraft motion.