Nonlinear dynamics investigation of variable cross-sectional solar-sail masts

A nonlinear dynamic modeling method for solar-sail mast under solar load is proposed in this paper. To further predict accurately the dynamic behaviors of solar-sail masts, nonlinear dynamic equation considering nonlinear geometric parameters and nonlinear strain of the mast is acquired by absolute nodal coordinate formulation. The absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF) is improved by introducing the Chebyshev polynomial approximation theory to raise the computational efficiency of the computation process on the mass matrix, stiffness matrix, and external force matrix of the nonlinear dynamic equation. Finally, the dynamic behaviors of the uniform mast, parabolic mast, and cylindrical mast under solar load are analyzed. The results show that the influence of the nonlinear parameters cannot be ignored, and the parabolic mast is more convenient in engineering than the cylindrical mast and uniform mast. In addition, the accuracy and convergence of the proposed method are better than those of the traditional computational method according to the analyses results. Thus, there are theoretical value and practical significance for the compositive technical performance of solar-sail mast.