| The coupled thermal-structural response of a rapidly heated model spacecraft boom was studied both experimentally and computationally. Three types of test were conducted during the study: (1) thermal response of a rapidly heated restrained boom (thermal response test), (2) free vibration response of an unheated boom (free vibration response test), and (3) coupled thermal-structural response of a rapidly heated boom (thermally induced vibration test). The test results of the boom experiments were compared and contrasted both qualitatively and quantitatively with those predicted by the computational model. Overall, the agreement between the measured and predicted results was very good, i.e., the computational model successfully predicted nearly all of the major features of the boom's response. Other notable achievements of the study include: (1) the discovery of thermal strum, a previously unreported type of thermally induced vibration that occurs in air but not in vacuum, (2) the first three dimensional survey of the heat flux field produced by an infrared strip heater, (3) the development of a novel method for measuring the total hemispherical emissivity of a surface at elevated temperatures, and (4) the computational validation of a generalized boom stability hypothesis. |
