Multibody modeling using absolute nodal coordinate plate element for deployable aerospace structures

抄録

Future aerospace structures, such as Mars aircraft and flapping wing aircraft, have deployable/foldable and thin plate-like components connected by hinge joints. A deployment simulation is necessary to design the structures. Multibody dynamics (MBD) to model the joints coupled with a nonlinear finite element method is an effective approach to perform the simulation. In this study, a plate element based on absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF) is coupled with MBD. ANCF plate element can express large rigid body motion and large elastic deformation including wing-chord deformation, and thus it is suitable for modeling low aspect ratio and very thin wings. However, the ANCF plate element has highly nonlinear elastic force leading to computational inefficiency. To overcome this computational inefficiency, we modify the elastic force formulation of the ANCF plate element by taking advantage of the wing characteristic. By using the ANCF plate element with the modified elastic force, we simulate the deployment motion of a multibody system.