Dynamics of a spacecraft with large flexible appendage constrained by multi-strut passive damper

This paper is concerned with the dynamics of a spacecraft with multi-strut passive damper for large flexible appendage. The damper platform is connected to the spacecraft by a spheric hinge, multiple damping struts and a rigid strut. The damping struts provide damping forces while the rigid strut produces a motion constraint of the multibody system. The exact nonlinear dynamical equations in reducedorder form are firstly derived by using Kane’s equation in matrix form. Based on the assumptions of small velocity and small displacement, the nonlinear equations are reduced to a set of linear second-order differential equations in terms of independent generalized displacements with constant stiffness matrix and damping matrix related to the damping strut parameters. Numerical simulation results demonstrate the damping effectiveness of the damper for both the motion of the spacecraft and the vibration of the flexible appendage, and verify the accuracy of the linear equations against the exact nonlinear ones.