Viscoelastic struts for vibration mitigation of FORTE
- CSA Engineering, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
FORTE is a small satellite being developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque (SNLA). It will be placed into orbit via a Pegasus launch in 1996. Testing a full-scale engineering model of the structure using the proto-qualification, system-level vibration spectrum indicated that acceleration levels caused by structural resonances exceed component levels to which certain sensitive components had previously been qualified. Viscoelastic struts were designed to reduce response levels associated with these resonances by increasing the level of damping in key structural modes of the spacecraft. Four identical shear-lap struts were fabricated ad installed between the two primary equipment decks. The struts were designed using a system finite element model (FEM) of the spacecraft, a component FEM of the strut, and measured viscoelastic properties. Direct complex stiffness testing was performed to characterize the frequency-dependent behavior of the struts, and these measured properties (shear modulus and loss factor) were used to represent the struts in the spacecraft model. System-level tests were repeated with the struts installed and the response power spectral densities at critical component locations were reduced by as much as 10 dB in the frequency range of interest.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 226056
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-96-709; CONF-960268-9; ON: DE96009784; TRN: AHC29610%%98
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) smart structures and materials conference, San Diego, CA (United States), 26-29 Feb 1996; Other Information: PBD: [1996]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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