ANALYTICAL INVESTIGATIONS ON LIGHT-WEIGHT STRUCTURES FOR SATELLITE STRUCTURAL FRAME APPLICATIONS THROUGH 3D MODELING

摘要

Different kinds of medium/small weight-scale satellites with total weights around 2000kg are developed or under their ways of developments for global environment-observation objectives. In our study, light-weight structures such as honeycomb sandwich panels as applied for those medium/small weight-scale satellites' structural frames were analytically investigated to improve the performances between satellite dynamic-rigidities and weights and then result to the cost down of satellite-launches. Several approaches to improve the total-weight and dynamic-stiffness performance of satellite systems were carried out using 3-dimensional (3D) modeling analysis and reported in this paper. At first the light-weight and higher-mechanical stiffness/strength honeycomb sandwich panels having advanced composite laminate as panel faces and honeycomb structure as panel cores were investigated to be applied for satellite structural frames. Secondly satellite structural frames with different shapes and sizes were 3-dimenssionally modeled and the dynamic stiffness was evaluated through modal analysis.