The design of space structures in the frame of a concurrent engineering approach
- Paper number
IAC-06-C2.1.03
- Author
Prof. Paolo Gaudenzi, University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy
- Year
2006
- Abstract
The engineering field of structures and materials plays a key role in the design, manufacturing verification and operation of space vehicles. As well know, these engineering disciplines have a dominant role in the sizing and design of the structural sub-system of spacecrafts, launching systems, probes or other vehicles. On the other hand structural engineering is a critical ingredient for the analysis and verification of all the other subsystems, since a local mechanical failure might occur in almost every component on board the space vehicles, including the electronics or the payload itself. In the last years the most important space design centres of space companies and of space agencies have developed, especially for feasibility studies, a concurrent engineering spacecraft design approach. This methodology aims at developing the process and the relevant technical choices in a system driven context, where the general requirements coming from the mission, the payload and all the subsystems are considered by all the engineering disciplines and areas of competence in a shared vision and at the same time. At the concurrent design facility (CDF) of the European Space Agency (1) this has been obtained by setting up an hardware and software environment able to implement the system design logic and to host the experts coming from the different areas of expertise. In this developing effort a logic of interaction in the design process among the different engineering disciplines has been established and a proprietary data base on previous missions and on available technologies and components has been developed by ESA. In this context very critical appears to be the establishment of the structural design logics and procedures that could match this approach and favour the obtainment of reliable and efficient results of a concurrent engineering effort. It is now some years that this issue has been raised by the author who cooperated in this effort with the CDF of ESA for the development of educational and research design tools. In the present study, based on the core logic established by the experts of the European Space Agency, a cluster of structural engineering procedures has been set up for the pre-feasibility sizing of two satellite platforms: a large geostationary –central cylinder based- tlc satellite and a medium size EO radar satellite. The overall geometry of the spacecraft structural system has been idealized in terms of elemental component and for each structural component a structural model - along with a model for mechanical actions - has been set up starting from the overall requirements and environment conditions determined by the mission. In this way the verification with respect stiffness, strength and stability requirements is made possible in an easy and reliable way at a very early stage of the satellite system design process. System drivers quantities, such as the subsystem mass budget, are then evaluated and all the information concerning the structural design are then logically made available to the other areas of competences, including the system design. The procedure is implemented in excel charts and is in the process of being implemented, with the same approach for other subsystems. References (1) M. Bandecchi et al , “The ESA/ESTEC concurrent design facility”, Proceedings of EuSEC 2000, ISBN 3-89675-935-3.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-06-C2.1.03.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.