摘要
In this study,the effects of solar wind on an electric sail(E-sail)are modeled and analyzed using an absolute nodal coordinate formulation(ANCF).First,the thrust of the charged metal tether that makes up the E-sail was analyzed and a model was established.Numerical simulations of a single metal tether were performed.Then,an overall E-sail model was established using the connection matrix,and E-sails subjected to different angular velocities were compared.Simulation results of the ANCF model and a dumbbell model were compared at different angular velocities.The results confirm that with a relatively high angular velocity,the flexible metal chain can be approximately regarded as a rigid body.However,with a small angular velocity,the flexibility of the metal chain cannot be ignored.