Modeling methodologies for microvibration-related analyses of spacecraft structures

Driven by the increasingly stringent stability requirement of some modern payloads (e.g. the new generations of optical instruments) the issue of accurate spacecraft micro-vibration modeling has grown increasingly important. In this context micro-vibrations are low level mechanical disturbances occurring at frequencies from a few Hertz up to 1000 Hz. As the frequency content of these phenomena extends beyond the first few modal frequencies, FEA predictions become less accurate and alternative methods have to be considered. Other modeling and analysis techniques have been investigated and applied to vibration problems (Stochastic Finite Element Method (e.g. Monte Carlo Simulation), Statistical Energy Analysis (well-established method for high frequency ranges) and the Hybrid FE-SEA), with the aim of investigating medium and high frequency behavior. This work is part of a project whose aim is to establish appropriate procedures for the modeling and analysis of micro-vibration and validate these procedures against experimental data. All the methods cited above are implemented in this study and compared with experimental results, in order to assess the performance of the various methodologies for micro-vibration problems, covering the whole frequency range up to 1000 Hz. Some comparisons between experimental and computational results are performed using the MAC. Some other analyses, like linearity, reciprocity or effect of the harness are also described. The bench work model that has provided the experimental data is the satellite platform SSTL 300 and this paper outlines these related test campaigns