Analytical and Experimental Study Using Output‐Only Modal Testing for On‐Orbit Satellite Appendages

Abstract

Output-only modal testing is an effective technique to identify the modal parameters of structural systems under ambient or operational conditions and has potential applications in civil, mechanical, and aerospace engineering. It may effectively be used for model validation, model updating, quality control, and health monitoring through the determination of modal characteristics of the structures. This approach to modal testing has great potential for ground and on-orbit modal testing of space hardware, especially for flexible structures such as membrane payloads where the operating and ambient excitations, such as firing of AC thrusters and ambient thermal shock, are difficult or impossible to measure. The main objective of this work is to conduct analytical and experimental study on output-only modal testing and to demonstrate its potential application to effectively extract modal parameters of an on-orbit satellite appendage.