Suitability of viscoelastic materials for nutation damping of spin-stabilized satellites
Abstract
Three nutation damper configurations were tested for viscoelastic materials. Equatorial and meridional pendulum dampers, and the spring-mass-damper were compared. Their motion equations are derived for the balanced and unbalanced case, and the optimization of the characteristic equation roots locus is investigated. It is shown that the balancing of the system satellite-damper simplifies the handling of the problem and the interpretation of the calculation results. The equatorial pendulum damper is found to be superior to the others for damping time optimization and construction. For optimization approximation, von Zajacs theorem and energy sink approximation are used. A combination of both methods with minimum calculation time leads to nearly exact results in finding the absolute maximum and the minimum damping time.
- Publication:
-
NASA STI/Recon Technical Report N
- Pub Date:
- 1983
- Bibcode:
- 1983STIN...8418307H
- Keywords:
-
- Nutation Dampers;
- Satellite Design;
- Spin Stabilization;
- Viscoelastic Damping;
- Damping Tests;
- Optimization;
- Product Development;
- Launch Vehicles and Space Vehicles