Passive vibration control design with co-curing damping composite for a satellite flywheel bracket

The effectiveness of applying co-curing damping composite to reduce vibration response of a satellite flywheel bracket is demonstrated. Co-curing damping composite materials attract much attention for their high loss factor and adding almost no weight. Firstly, the baseline bracket was analyzed by finite element method to obtain distribution of modal strain energy. The front cover of the bracket where strain energy was concentrated was chosen to apply damping treatment. Then, parameter investigations of ply location, thickness of damping layer were carried to get optimal damping design. Random vibration response of damping bracket was compared with no damping one. Present results show that the co-curing damping treatment is an effective and compatible passive vibration control means for the brackets.