Dynamic Study on Revolute Joint with Clearance of the Deployable Structure

Dynamic characteristics are studied on revolute joint with clearance of the parallelogram deployable structure in the present paper. The continuous contact model based on Hertz law is used for the clearance model, taking energy dissipation into account. The modified Coulomb law is utilized for calculating the friction force during the impact process, because the Coulomb law is able to lead to the difficulty of numerical simulation. Dynamic equations of the deployable structure are obtained by adding the contact force and friction force to the dynamic model of this mechanical system, and the relevant results are obtained by the numerical simulation. By analyzing these results, the revolute joint with clearance brings some negative influence, such as vibration etc., for the deployable structure during the unfold process. The corresponding results play an important role in forecasting the dynamic characteristics and design of the deployable structure.