Dynamics and Vibrations of Cable-Harnessed Structures Motivated by Space Applications

在空间中发射卫星系统的高成本已经成为空间结构轻量化设计以降低这些成本的一个重要动机。在这方面，充气技术可以在发射过程中压缩成几英寸厚的折叠堆栈，然后在数百英尺的空间中膨胀和部署，这在将更大的计量系统放置在太空中获得了革命性的进步，以提高其覆盖范围，同时满足发射成本和质量目标。虽然它们的轻量化设计备受赞誉，但这些结构的动态性能可能会受到额外组件（如太空飞行电缆）的严重影响。在传统的空间结构中，电力电缆与有效载荷质量的比例可以达到20%，而对于充气结构，由于其重量要小得多，这一比例会显著提高。美国空军研究实验室（US Air Force Research Labs）进行的飞行项目测试率先发现，当结构元件被用于信号和电力电缆时，空间结构动力学的复杂性会被放大。这些复杂性，再加上在发射前进行全系统地面测试的不可行性，因为充气装置的尺寸很大，因此需要更精确的模型来考虑电缆的动态影响。因此，我的研究计划的长期目标是开发分析工具，以准确地模拟空间飞行电缆对有效载荷的复杂动态影响，适用于所有类别的充气空间技术。为了实现这一目标，这项为期五年的研究计划将重点开发新颖、高保真、简单和有效的分析工具，这些工具的计算效率高，可以理解太空飞行电缆对有效载荷板状结构和复合圆柱形臂架的动态影响，并最终优化电缆的放置位置，以提高其动力学性能。作为加拿大唯一一个研究太空飞行电缆对有效载荷结构的动态影响的实验室，也是加拿大进行充气式技术研究的三个实验室之一，我将继续为HQP提供独特的培训机会，这将是航天工业和CSA， MDA和加拿大普拉特和惠特尼公司等公司所需要的。此外，HQP在动力学和振动方面获得的更广泛的技能将使其适用于汽车和能源行业。此外，拟议的计划将直接有利于监测北极、气候变化、海洋学、工程计量、地球水循环观测和林业等许多科学和工程任务。最终，在超轻型充气空间技术中开发的技术的全面实施，预计在大约十年的长期目标，将通过放置高保真的计量系统，大大降低发射成本，显著推进该领域，并将对航天工业和加拿大经济产生持续的影响。

The high costs for launching satellite systems in space have been a significant motivation for the lighter design of space structures to reduce these costs. In this regard, inflatable technology that can be compressed into folded stacks of a few inches of thickness during launch before inflation and deployment over hundreds of feet in space has gained a revolutionary step in placing larger metrology systems in space to improve their coverage while meeting the launch costs and mass goals. While prized for their lightweight designs, the dynamic behaviour of these structures can be heavily impacted by additional components such as space flight cables. The ratio of power cables to payload mass can be up to 20% in a traditional space structure and increases significantly for inflatable structures due to their much smaller weight. Flight program tests performed by the US Air Force Research Labs were among the first to identify that the complexities of space structure dynamics are magnified when structural elements are harnessed to signal and power cables. These complexities, coupled with the unfeasibility of full system ground-based tests before launch due to the large size of inflatables, mandate the need for more accurate models that incorporate the dynamic effects of cables. Therefore, the long-term goal of my research program is to develop analytical tools to accurately model the complex dynamic effects of space flight cables on payloads for all classes of inflatable space technologies. To help achieve this goal, the five-year research program will focus on the development of novel, high-fidelity, simple, and effective analytical tools that are computationally efficient to understand the dynamic impacts of space flight cables on payload plate-like structures and composite cylindrical booms, and ultimately optimization for cables' placements to improve their dynamics. Being the only lab in Canada to perform research on space flight cables dynamic impacts on payload structures and also one of the three labs in Canada to conduct research on inflatable technologies, I will continue to provide the HQP with unique training opportunities that will be in demand by the space industry and companies like CSA, MDA, and Pratt and Whitney Canada. Also, the broader set of skills gained by the HQP on dynamics and vibrations will make them suitable for the automotive and energy industries. In addition, the proposed plan will directly benefit many science and engineering missions in monitoring the Arctic, climate change, oceanography, engineering metrology, Earth's water cycle observations, and forestry. Ultimately, the full implementation of the developed techniques in ultra-light inflatable space technology, anticipated in about ten years for the long-term goal, will significantly advance the field through placing high-fidelity metrology systems with substantially lower launch costs and will have a sustained impact on the space industry and the Canadian economy.