Order-\(N\) formulation and dynamics of multi-unit flexible space manipulators (Q1291863)

The study uses an order-\(N\) algorithm, based on the Lagrangian approach and velocity transformations, to simulate the planar dynamics of a novel orbiting manipulator with arbitrary number of slewing and deployable flexible links. The relatively general formulation accounts for interactions between orbital, librational, slewing, deployment, and vibrational degrees of freedom, and thus is applicable to a large class of manipulator systems of contemporary interest. A parametric analysis of the system dynamics is carried out to investigate the effects of initial disturbances, variation of system parameters and maneuver profiles.