Fast algorithm for temperature calculation of multi-layered ultra-thin decoy

Based on the assumption that the temperature is invariable along the thickness direction for a multi-layered ultra-thin decoy, the equivalent physical parameters as a one-layer material were derived using the known physical parameters of the original multi-layer thin structures in accordance with the conservation principle of mass and energy. For a multi-layered inflatable object either under three-axis stabilization or spinning in space, with all the heat flux considered, namely, thermal conduction, the solar and earth heating, energy dissipated into space from the outer surface, and the thermal exchange among facets of the inner surface, heat transfer equations for each micro-element were established. The temperature field as a function of time was then obtained using Gauss-Seidel iteration. In this way, the three-dimensional conduction heat transfer calculation for a multi-layered decoy was simplified to be two-dimensional, thus the computation efficiency was improved greatly. Numerical results indicate that the decoy object achieves thermal equilibrium quickly in space. It is also seen that a great difference of the object temperatures exists in the earth's shadow and sunshine space. In addition, the temperature difference along the circumference becomes trivial when the object undergoes spinning.