An Integrated Multi-Body/FEM Approach for Space Applications

Dynamics and control of space mechanisms will be a profitable field of research in the near future, due to the worldwide development of complex space missions including large platforms, huge deployable appendages, robotic arms. These mechanisms will be challenging due to a specific and hard space environment, to the complex dynamics described by non-linear equations, by the limited power – mechanical, electric, computational – available on board. On account of the different features of the requirements, generated by all subsystems, the optimization of the mechanisms’ design should be searched in a multidisciplinary approach. Additional issues come from the design and production management side. Due to the complexity of the space programs, it is likely that several engineering firms from different sites should work together. It means that, since initial steps, a kind of unique design (and delays and coordination problems expected) or a parallel design should be. This way each group, once agreed on common interfaces, will work at its best in their field. Modern design integration processes and tools are needed to address these challenges and implement multidisciplinary optimization in an effective manner. In recent years, the aero/space industry has been moving towards the integrated analysis of multidisciplinary systems at every stage of the design and manufacturing process. The availability of commercial multibody analysis software is pushing this approach. Codes such as ADAMS, MECANO, Sympack, DCAP (developed by TAS-I and the European Space Agency) allow the dynamic and kinematic numerical modeling of complex aerospace systems, offering a powerful tool to understand the working principles of these components in a complex environment. Moreover multibody systems are intended as a collection of bodies that hold their degrees of freedom by means of kinematic or flexible constraints. Modern multibody codes are able to handle not only kinematic interfaces, but also they can profitably take multiphysics characteristics into account, so that the complex interactive design becomes possible.