Parametric Essessment of Honeycomb Panel for Passive Micro-Vibration Damping Induced by Reaction Wheel

Usually, Reaction Wheel Assemblies (RWAs)are actuators used for satellite attitude control. During their functioning RWAs produce undesired disturbances transmitted through satellite structure and can significantly affect the performance of vibration-sensitive payload. Micro-vibrations of a satellite reaction wheel assembly are commonly analyzed in either hard-mounted or coupled boundary conditions, though coupled wheel-to-structure disturbance models are more representative of the real environment in which the wheel operates. Micro-vibration is a phenomenon that affects the payload pointing. In this article we want to assess a solution to passively damp and decouple the disturbance noise transferred from wheel to the supporting honeycomb panel. A couple of core and skins thicknesses of honeycomb plate; in addition, to cell thickness and size were evaluated to access their damping efficiency on micro-vibration source. Simulations show that, the core thickness is more effective for micro-vibration suppression and issues about micro-vibration in integrated design.