Study on Mechanics Performance of Flexible Spacecraft Cables Combined with Complicated Working Conditions

Taking the large deflection of flexible cables used in spacecrafts into account, a method is proposed to describe the position of any point on the cable using sagittal diameter, pitch angle, and deflection angle. Furthermore, the spatial attitude of the cable is determined using the mutual conversion of four coordinate systems. On the basis of the above, a mechanics model that comprehensively considers physical factors, such as mass, mechanical properties, and space constraints, is proposed in this paper. The forces and spatial attitudes of the equilibrium of the cable are also analyzed. In addition, Simulation analyses of the proposed mechanics model are performed. Results are in reasonable agreement with the actual assembly environment.