Coupling dynamic analysis of spacecraft with multiple cylindrical tanks and flexible appendages

This paper is mainly concerned with the coupling dynamic analysis of a complex spacecraft consisting of one main rigid platform, multiple liquid-filled cylindrical tanks, and a number of flexible appendages. Firstly, the carrier potential function equations of liquid in the tanks are deduced according to the wall boundary conditions. Through employ- ing the Fourier-Bessel series expansion method, the dynamic boundaries conditions on a curved free-surface under a low-gravity environment are transformed to general simple differential equations and the rigid-liquid coupled sloshing dynamic state equations of liquid in tanks are obtained. The state vectors of rigid-liquid coupled equations are composed with the modal coordinates of the relative potential func- tion and the modal coordinates of wave height. Based on the B ernoulli-Euler beam theory and the D＇Alembert＇s prin- ciple, the rigid-flexible coupled dynamic state equations of flexible appendages are directly derived, and the coordi- nate transform matrixes of maneuvering flexible appendages are precisely computed as time-varying. Then, the cou- pling dynamics state equations of the overall system of the spacecraft are modularly built by means of the Lagrange＇s equations in terms of quasi-coordinates. Lastly, the cou-piing dynamic performances of a typical complex spacecraft are studied. The availability and reliability of the presented method are also confirmed.