Electric sail static structural analysis with finite element approach

A comprehensive review of Electric Solar Wind Sail concept and its applications

“…A different approach for modelling the E-sail shape was proposed by Boni et al [52], who adopted a Finite Element approach to evaluate the deformation of the tethers of a spinning and Sun-facing Esail; see Fig 13. The analysis aims to provide an estimation of the static deformation of the E-sail, thus neglecting the tether dynamics, using three different beam models to study the tether shape. The Euler-Bernoulli beam element (with cubic shape functions) was chosen for its efficiency in handling the strong nonlinearity associated with the bending effect on very slender beams.…”

“…In particular, the shear-flexible beam elements are able to model the non-linear stress stiffening, which occurs when the variation of the shear strain along the beam axis yields a constraint to bending rotations. Boni et al [52] also tested a hybrid beam element, which optimally matches the properties of the Euler-Bernoulli and shear-flexible beam elements in order to characterize the structural behaviour of highly slender beams subject to multi-axial loads. Figure 13: Finite element analysis of a Sun-facing E-sail configuration.…”

Electric sail phasing maneuvers with radial thrust

“…~39 d e g E-sail charged tether payload solar wind A transverse thrust may be obtained by inclining the sail nominal plane with respect to the Sun-spacecraft line, thus allowing a wide range of mission scenarios to be accomplished, such as rendez-vous with comets [7,8] and asteroids [9,10], the maintenance of displaced non-Keplerian orbits [11,12], or the exploration of the Solar System's boundaries [13,14] . However, the tether inflection due to the solar wind dynamical pressure [15,16] makes the E-sail attitude control an involved issue and, as such, the choice of a Sun-facing configuration is the simplest way to control the E-sail attitude. Such a configuration, in which the sail nominal plane is orthogonal to the Sun-spacecraft line, is stable as the torque induced by the tether bending tends to reorient the spacecraft spin axis along the local radial direction [17,18].…”

Stability and control of radial deployment of electric solar wind sail

“…The central spacecraft is modeled as a six-degree-of-freedom (DOF) rigid body, while the tethers are modeled with 2-noded bar elements with variable lengths and zero compressive stiffness. Recently, three different beam models of the tether for the E-sail have been tested based on the Abaqus software, and its impact on the transient response of the tether is investigated [19]. In the current paper, all tethers are treated as flexible elastic tensile members in the deployment process.…”