AIAA JOURNAL

Modeling and Coupling Dynamics of the Spacecraft

with Multiple Propellant Tanks

Yue Baozeng
Beijing Institute of Technology, 100081 Beijing, Peoples Republic of China
Wu Wenjun
Guangxi University of Science and Technology, 545006 Liuzhou, Peoples Republic of China
and
Yan Yulong
Beijing Institute of Technology, 100081 Beijing, Peoples Republic of China
DOI: 10.2514/1.J055110
This paper is mainly focused on the modeling and coupling dynamics of the spacecraft with multiple propellant
tanks. The dynamic boundary conditions on a curved, liquid, free surface under a low-gravity environment are
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transformed to general simple differential equations by using a FourierBessel series expansion method, and the state
vectors of coupled liquid-sloshing equations are composed by the modal coordinates of a relative potential function
and the modal coordinates of the wave height. The overall coupled dynamic equations for the rigid platform motion
and liquid fuel sloshing are subsequently obtained by means of Lagranges equations in terms of general quasi
coordinates. The orbit thruster firing and attitude momentum wheel controller are applied to the coupled system to
testify to the mathematical model and analyze the coupling dynamics of a coupled fluidspacecraft system. MATLAB
software is used for symbolic manipulation, coupling dynamics, and control simulations. Numerical simulations via
computer are carried out to validate the model derived in this paper.

Nomenclature Fx , Fy , Fz = liquid-sloshing forces

An , Bn = FourierBessel series expansion coeffi- F1ns , F2ns = constants of the modal equations for the
cients for carrier velocity potential coupled liquid-sloshing motion
function F1s , F2s = constants in modal equations for the
anm = FourierBessel series expansion coeffi- coupled liquid-sloshing motion
cients for relative potential function fi = undisturbed free-surface function of liquid
Bi = liquid field boundary on the container for the ith tank
bottom G = effective gravity
bnm = FourierBessel series expansion coeffi- H = coupled vector for the overall coupled
cients for relative potential function system
C = transformation matrix for the translation Jwx , J wy , Jwz = moments of inertia for momentum wheel
motion of spacecraft Jx , Jy , Jz = moments of inertia for spacecraft
cnm = FourierBessel series expansion coeffi- Li = free-surface boundary on the contact line
cients for wave height function for the ith tank
D = transformation matrix for the attitude M = inertial matrix for the overall coupled
motion of spacecraft system
D1ns , D2ns , D3ns , = coefficients of the modal equations for the Mx , M y , Mz = liquid-sloshing moments
D4ns , D5ns , D6ns , coupled liquid-sloshing motion O = inertial reference frame origin
D7ns , D8ns , o = spacecraft body-fixed reference frame
D9ns , D10ns origin
di = parameters for ith fuel tank location oi = fuel tank fixed reference frame origin
dnm = FourierBessel series expansion coeffi- P = intensity of pressure in fluid field
cients for wave height function Pi = representative point in fluid field
F = generalized force vector for the overall R = radius of fuel tank
coupled system R, Rx , Ry , Rz = position coordinate vector and its compo-
Fi = nondimensional free-surface function of nents of spacecraft
liquid for the ith tank ri = cylindrical coordinate along radial direc-
tion for the ith fuel tank
rp = location vector of Pi
Received 9 February 2016; revision received 7 April 2016; accepted for Si = liquid field boundary on the free surface
publication 7 April 2016; published online 16 June 2016. Copyright 2016 V = translation velocity of spacecraft
by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights v = velocity of particle in fluid field
reserved. Copies of this paper may be made for personal and internal use, on Wi = liquid field boundary on the sidewall for
condition that the copier pay the per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance the ith tank
Center (CCC). All requests for copying and permission to reprint should be X, Y, Z = Cartesian coordinates in inertial reference
submitted to CCC at www.copyright.com; employ the ISSN 0001-1452 x, y, z = Cartesian coordinates in body-fixed
(print) or 1533-385X (online) to initiate your request. reference
*Professor, Department of Mechanics, School of Aerospace Engineering, 5
Z = state variable vector for the overall coupled
South Zhongguancun Street, Haidian District; bzyue@sohu.com.

Lecturer, School of Automobile and Traffic Engineering, 268 Donghuan system
Road, Liuzhou; wuwenjun25@163.com. , = control gain coefficient

Doctor, Department of Mechanics, School of Aerospace Engineering, 5 i = total wave height for the ith tank
South Zhongguancun Street, Haidian District; yanyulong427@163.com. i = wave height for the ith tank
Article in Advance / 1
 2 Article in Advance / BAOZENG, WENJUN, AND YULONG
, x , y , z = Euler angles of spacecraft
i = cylindrical coordinate along circumfer-
ential direction for the ith fuel tank
n1 = roots of J10 n  equal to 0 (derivative of
first kind of Bessel function)
= density of liquid fuel
= surface tension coefficient
= potential function
e = carrier velocity potential function
r = relative potential function
= wave height of the liquid sloshing
x , y , z = angular velocity of momentum wheel
, x , y , z = angular velocity vector and its compo-
nents of spacecraft
Subscripts
D = index for derivative control
I = fuel tank number
m, n, s = mode number along radial and circum-
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ferential direction
P = index for proportional control or index for
location of representative point in fluid
field
W = index for momentum wheel
x, y, z = indices for Cartesian coordinates
I. Introduction
M ODERN spacecraft usually contain significant amounts of
liquid propellant to execute trajectory and attitude maneuvers
for mission requirement. The very large fraction of propellant stored
on board spacecraft has made critical the technologies of describing
the fluidspacecraft coupling dynamics and controlling the liquid
fuel sloshing [112]. Accurate models of the liquid-sloshing motion
are therefore required to be able to predict the dynamics of fuel slosh
and its influence on the overall dynamics of the spacecraft carrying
the liquid fuel. In this study, we assume that the fuel tank is a rigid
container, which considerably simplifies the problem. This assump-
tion is valid for containers that have structural frequencies spectrally
separated from dominant fluid slosh and control modes. However, in
some cases (especially in launch vehicles and airplanes), the interac-
tion of the liquid-sloshing dynamics with elastic deformations
of the container must be considered in studying the overall vehicle
dynamics. An example of such application to the aerospace field is
the vibration of liquid-propelled launch vehicles involved in the pogo
effect and in predictions of the dynamic behavior of the launcher
during flight. For airplanes applications, the readers are referred to the
outstanding work from Morand and Ohayon [3] and Schott et al. [4]
for extensive research results in studying the vibration of an elastic
structure containing an incompressible liquid with a free surface. In
Schott et al.s very recent work, a new approach was proposed to
represent the fluid dynamic loads on the structure wall by an imped-
ance mass matrix [4]. In the case where the tanks own deformations
could be neglected with respect to the global deformations of the
main structure, the size of the liquid impedance model would be
drastically reduced to ensure low CPU-time and memory consump-
tions [4].
The main dynamical effect of lateral sloshing can be equally well
represented by an equivalent mechanical model. The commonly used
equivalent mechanical models including the pendulum model and the
mass-spring model provide a simple and empirical approach for
stability and control analysis [1,6,7]. Although the equivalent model
is known to work for a wide range of tank geometries and liquid
properties, it still suffers from certain deficiencies. Determination of
the parameters of the equivalent mechanical model is difficult and
tricky work that requires improved slosh rigs and advanced methods
of data analysis. One alternative is to use computational method-
ologies like computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to predict the
sloshing dynamics, which seem especially attractive in cases of low-
gravity sloshing and when dealing with sloshing fluid in containers of
arbitrary shape. However, this approach is hard to incorporate in
stability analysis and control design. Moreover, as the complexity of
the problem increases, so does the computational expense [13,14].
For the dynamics of bodies containing fluids, the application of the
classical methods of analytical mechanics, assumed modes methods
where the displacement or other variables are represented in terms of
shape functions multiplied by time-dependent generalized co-
ordinates, together with more modern concepts of stability analysis
has been presented in a comprehensive and elegant form [1,2,15]. As
one of the most representative studies on the coupled fluidspacecraft
model by using analytical methods, the dynamics of a linear
spacecraft model coupled to the nonlinear low-gravity sloshing of a
fluid in a cylindrical tank is investigated [16]. However, this model
only considers the lateral motion of the tank and it cannot be used to
predict the influence of the liquid fuel sloshing on the orbit and
attitude motion of spacecraft. The systematical work has been done
for the dynamics and control of spacecraft with flexible appendages
by using the assumed modes method [1719]. Nevertheless, in this
work, the liquid-sloshing motion is not incorporated into the model.
Actually, the latter case is a more urgent task for the actual projects
requirement in modern spacecraft engineering practice [20,21].
The argument becomes even stronger when the spacecraft must be
equipped with multiple tanks to be separately filled with liquid fuel
and oxidizer [22]. With the increase of the fuel tank numbers, the
number of system state variables, degrees of freedom, and the matrix
dimensions will be augmented, and the governing equations of the
spacecraft system will be more complicated and difficult to build up
by means of traditional methods. Additionally, as there are more
parameters (such as the locations of the tanks relative to rigid plat-
form, the frequencies of liquid sloshing, etc.) that could casually
trigger unexpected coupling effects or other complex dynamic phe-
nomena, it is extremely difficult to fully predict the dynamics
performances of the system in such cases.
In this study, the mathematical model for the coupled liquid
spacecraft with multiple tanks is modularly built by means of the
assumed modes method and quasi-Lagrangian equations. The formu-
las of the sloshing characteristics, including wave height, sloshing
force, and sloshing moment, are deduced. As examples, the cases in
which the spacecraft contains, respectively, one fuel tank, two fuel
tanks, and four fuel tanks are taken into account to evaluate the
influence of the numbers of tanks and the installation layout on
the coupled fluidspacecraft dynamics. Orbit thruster firing and
the reaction wheels attitude controller are actuated to analyze the
coupling dynamics of the coupled fluidspacecraft system with four
fuel tanks. Compared to other methods such as CFD and the
equivalent mechanical model, the present method has the advantages
of higher efficiency and accuracy, modular computer programming,
low CPU time and memory consumption, etc. Extensive numerical
simulations are carried out to confirm the validity of the present
method.
II. Mathematical Model
A. Coordinate System of Spacecraft with Multiple Fuel Tanks
The physical model of the coupled system for the fluid sloshing
and the spacecraft equipped with fuel tanks under consideration is
shown in Fig. 1. The rigid tank is fixed on the main rigid platform
of the spacecraft and the liquid is assumed to be incompressible,
nonviscous, and nonrotational. The orthogonal coordinates system
OXYZ is the inertial reference frame. The orthogonal coordinates
system oxyz is the body-fixed reference frame, for which the axes are
parallel to the principal inertia axis of the main body, where x, y, and z
denote, respectively, the roll, pitch, and yaw axis. The yaw axis points
toward the center of mass of the Earth; and the roll axis is in the plane
of the orbit, perpendicular to the yaw axis, in the direction of the
velocity of the spacecraft. The pitch axis is normal to the local plane
of the orbit, and it completes a three-axis right-hand orthogonal sys-
tem, as depicted in Fig. 1. The origin oi of the cylindrical coordinates
oi ri i zi and the orthogonal coordinates oi xi yi zi is located at the
center of the curve free surface in the ith tank. The frame oi xi yi zi
is also assumed parallel to the frame oxyz so that the coordinate
 Article in Advance / BAOZENG, WENJUN, AND YULONG 3

Fig. 1 Model of liquid-filled spacecraft with a cylindrical fuel tank.

transformation matrix between them is a unit matrix. The vector where can also be interpreted as time derivatives of the quasi
roi  rxi ; ryi ; rzi T is used to represent the position of oi with respect coordinates.
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to the rigid-body-fixed reference frame oxyz. The height of the

undisturbed axisymmetric free surface fi ri  is measured positively B. Equations of Liquid-Sloshing Motion in the Fuel Tanks
above zi  0, and the wave height i ri ; i ; t is measured from this The velocity vector of a representative point Pi in the ith tank is
free surface and not from zi  0. The total wave height above is
zi  0 i ri ; i ; ti . Let W i denote the boundary on the sidewall
(ri  Ri , where Ri is the radius of the fuel container) of the ith tank,
Bi denote the boundary on the container bottom (zi  hi , where hi vpi  v  rp (5)
is the filling height of fuel liquid), Si denote the boundary on the free
liquid surface (zi  i ), and Li denote the boundary on the contact
line (ri  Ri and zi  i ). Suppose that R  Rx ; Ry ; Rz T and
 x ; y ; z T are, respectively, the orbit vector and the attitude where rp is the position vector of point Pi expressed in the frame oxyz,
vector of the main rigid platform relative to the frame OXYZ. Assume and operator   denotes the skew-symmetric matrix corresponding to
that v  vx ; vy ; vz T and  x ; y ; z T are the velocity vector the associated vector. Introducing the transformation relationship
and angular velocity vector of the main rigid platform relative to the between the rectangular and cylindrical coordinates to Eq. (5), the
frame oxyz, respectively. velocity of the point Pi relative to the frame oi ri i zi can be shown as

8
< vri  vx z ryi  y rzi  zi  cos  vy  z rxi x rzi  zi  sin
v  vx z ryi  y rzi  zi  sin  vy  z rxi x rzi  zi  cos  z r (6)
: i
vzi  vz  x ryi y rxi  x r sin y r cos

The spacecraft attitude with respect the reference frame is defined According to the principle of superposition, it is possible to split the
by a direction cosine matrix or Euler angles. In our treatment, the total velocity potential function of liquid sloshing into a disturbance
Euler angles are defined as the rotation angles about the body axes as potential function or relative potential function r and a carrier
follows: x , y , and z are the rotation angles, respectively, about axes velocity potential function e [2]. The nondimensional function e
x, y, and z. For convenience, the coordinate transform matrices should be satisfied by Laplaces equation and the nonhomogeneous
are defined to be obtained by transforming axes in the order of boundary conditions at the wall and bottom of the fuel tank:
ox oy oz. So, the coordinate transform matrices between frame
OXYZ and oxyz are
2 e  0 (7)
2 3
cy cz cx sy  sx sy cz sx sz cx sy cz
C  4 cy sz cx cz sx sy sz sx cz  cx sy sz 5 (1)
sy sx cy cx cy
e
 vri ; R1 (8)
R
2 3
cz cy sz 0
D  4 sz cy cz 05 (2)
sy 0 1
e
 vzi ; Z  H i (9)
where sk  sin k and ck  cos k , k  x, y, z. Consequently, we Z
obtain the following transformation relations
where e  e R2i , Z  zi Ri , R  ri Ri , Hi  hi Ri , F 
v  C R_ (3) fi Ri ,  i Ri , v ri  vri jR1 Ri , and vzi  vzi jZHi Ri are
the scaled nondimensional parameters or quantities. Note that the other
nondimensional parameters used in this paper are also scaled by these
similar rules. Then, splitting e into e1 and e2 , to satisfy the Eqs. (7)
 D _ (4) and (8), e1 should have the form
 4 Article in Advance / BAOZENG, WENJUN, AND YULONG

e1  vri R (10) In addition, the nondimensional wave height should be satisfied

with the free contact angle condition; that is,
Substituting Eq. (10) into Eqs. (8) and (9) gives

e2  0; R  1; Z  F1 (19)
 0; R1 (11) R
R
To exactly satisfy Eq. (7) and all of the homogeneous forms of
boundary conditions in Eqs. (8) and (9), the relative potential function
e2
 v z  x Ryi y Rxi  2x R sin 2y R cos ; Z  H i r can be assumed as
Z
(12) X
X
r R; ; Z; t  anm t cosm
where, for simplicity, the subscript in has been omitted. Based on n1 m0
Eqs. (7), (11), and (12), the form of function e2 can be assumed as coshnm Z Hi 
 bnm t sinmJ m nm R (20)
X  coshnm H i 
sinhn1 Z
e2  v z x Ryi y Rxi Z An t J1 n1 R sin
n1
cosh n1 H i  and the wave height is assumed as

sinhn1 Z
Bn t J1 n1 R cos (13) X
X

coshn1 Hi 
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R; ; t  cnm t cosm  dnm t sinmJ m nm R

n1 m0
where n1 are the roots of J10 n 
 0. Expanding the variable R in
(21)
Eq. (12) into the FourierBessel series and comparing with Eq. (13),
the expansion coefficients An and Bn can be found to be
It should be noted that, from the careful analysis of modal
4x expansions, it can be found that the dominant modes in the steady-state
An t  (14) solution of the coupled liquid sloshing caused by spacecraft attitude
n1 2n1 1J 1 n1 
and orbital motion are a circumferential zeroth-order symmetrical
mode (m  0), a circumferential first-order symmetric mode (m  1,
planar mode), and circumferential first-order asymmetric mode (m 
4y 1, nonplanar mode); this implicates that liquid sloshing can produce a
Bn t  (15) reaction sloshing force and reaction sloshing moment only when
n1 2n1 1J1 n1 
m  0 or m  1.
Next, we will construct the equations for the modal coefficients for
Substituting Eqs. (14) and (15) into Eq. (13), and combining with
coupling liquid-sloshing motion. Substituting Eqs. (20) and (21)
Eq. (10), the potential function e is obtained as follows:
separately into Eqs. (17) and (18), expanding the variable R into the
FourierBessel series, and resorting to the modal orthogonality
e  fvx z Ro 0 y  y Ro 0 z  Z cos (through troublesome lengthy manipulations, where usage of sym-
 vy  z Ro 0 x x Ro 0 z  Z sin gR bolic manipulators is strongly recommended) result in the following
equations:
 vz  x Ryi y Rxi Z
X 
4x sinhn1 Z X
N
 J1 n1 Rsin D1ns c_n0  D2ns an0   F1s (22)
   n1 H i 
2 cosh
n1 n1 n1
1J 1 n1
 n1
4y sinhn1 Z
J 1 n1 R cos (16)
n1 2n1 1J1 n1  coshn1 H i 
X
N
It is easily found that Eq. (16) is completely satisfied with Eqs. (79). D3ns a_ n0  D4ns cn0   F2s (23)
According to the potential theory, the dominant of the steady-state n1
solution for the liquid-sloshing system is determined by the carrier
velocity potential function e . Equation (16) shows that the carrier
velocity potential is determined by the orbit velocity and attitude
angular velocities of the main rigid body of the spacecraft. So, the X
X

2x
d_n1 t bs1 tD5sn1  x D6sn1 (24)
liquid-sloshing system obtained in this way is a typical coupled fluid s1 s1
2n1 1J1 n1 
spacecraft system. For liquid sloshing at low gravity, except that the
disturbance potential r must be satisfied with Eqs. (79), it should
be satisfied with kinematic and dynamic conditions on the free
surface [23]:
X

g X
  b_s1 tD7sn1  dn1 t ds1 tD8sn1
r  e  r  e  dF Ri
  0; Z  Z0  FR s1 s1
t Z R dR X
2v_y 
_ z Rxi 
(17)   D9n1
_x
_x D10sn1 (25)
n1 1J1 n1 
2
s1

  
r e  g 1 RR
 i3
t Ri i Ri R R 1dFRdR2 32 X
X

2y
  c_ n1 t as1 tD5sn1  y D6sn1 
1 2n1 1J1 n1 
 2  0; Z  Z0  FR (18) s1 s1
R 1dFRdR2 12 (26)
 Article in Advance / BAOZENG, WENJUN, AND YULONG 5

X

g X C. State Equations in Terms of Quasi Coordinates for the Coupled
a_ s1 tD7sn1  cn1 t cs1 tD8sn1 Spacecraft System
s1
Ri s1 For the sake of modularly modeling for spacecraft with multiple
2v_x 
_ z Ryi  X propellant tanks, the Lagranges equations in terms of quasi coor-
 2  D9n1
_y 
_y D10sn1 (27) dinates are employed to build the set of the equations for the coupled
n1 1J1 n1  s1 spacecraft system [24]. The coupling dynamics forces and moments
caused by the liquid sloshing in the fuel tanks are considered as the
For brevity, the coefficients in the preceding equations will be external nonconservative forces and moments; accordingly, the set of
detailed in the Appendix. The sloshing force and moment are the the coupled equations is shown as
important sloshing characteristics for the stability and control analy-
sis for the spacecraft. The coupled sloshing forces in the ith tank       X
N
mainly include the interfacial tension force acting on the tank wall d L L L tank

 CO  F0  Foi (33)
along the contact line, and the force is attributable directly to the dt V V R i1
disturbance pressure caused by the disturbance potential function; it
can be displayed as        
d L L L L
 V  DTO 1
Z2    Z2 Zhi dt V

Fx t  sin d  PjrRi Ri cos dz d X
N
rRi i
tank

 M0  Roi Foi  Moi  (34)

0 0 i
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i1
(28)
where N tank denotes the number of the fuel tanks aboard the space-
craft. F0 and M0 are, respectively, the external nonconservative
Z2    Z2 Zhi forces and moments, such as control forces and moments. To con-
 struct the state equations for the whole coupled liquidspacecraft
Fy t  cos d  PjrRi Ri sin dz d
rRi i system, put the state vectors of the subsystem in the following order:
0 0 i
N tank N6
(29) z }| { z }| {
12 T

Z  Z 1 ; Z 2 ; :::; Z i ; :::; Z Ntank Rx ;Ry ;Rz ;x ;y ;z ;vx ;vy ;vz ;x ;y ;z

Z2 ZRi (35)
Fz t  Pjzhi r d dr (30)
0 0 where

z }| {
6N 
Z i  a10 ; a20 ; : : : ; aN0 ; c10 ; c20 ; : : : ; cN0 ; a11 ; a21 ; : : : ; aN1 ; b11 ; b21 ; : : : ; bN1 ; c11 ; c21 ; : : : ; cN1 ; d11 ; d21 ; : : : ; dN

where P denotes fluid pressure. Similarly, the sloshing moments are and N is the maximum modal expansion number of liquid sloshing.
shown as Assembling all the modular equations together leads to the whole
coupled system equations in the matrix form

Z2    MZ; tZ_  HZ; t  F

 (36)
Mx t  i Ri  jrRi  cos d
rRi
0
where MZ; t is the time-dependent and nonsingular generalized
Z2 Zh0 Z2 ZRi mass matrix, and F is the vector of the generalized nonconservative
PjrRi zRi sin dz d  Pjzhi r2 sin d dr (31) force vector. Based on the present method, a modularized digital
0 0 0
computer program for the coupling dynamic analysis of spacecraft
with multiple fuel tanks is coded. The program flowchart is shown
in Fig. 2.
To validate the effectiveness of the numerical and theoretical
results in this paper, we have made elaborative numerical simulations
for each subsystem. The specific method is as follows: first, we exam-
ined the responses when the subsystem of the spacecraft with a single
Z2   
 liquid-filled tank or multiple tanks was excited with different straight-
My t  i Ri  jrRi  sin d forward driving forces, in which the responses were simple and
rRi i
0 definable. Then, a commonly used controller is applied to the coupled
system to examine the dynamic interaction of propellant sloshing
Z2 Zh0 Z2 ZRi
with the attitude control system. The intent here is not to present
 PjrRi zRi cos dz d Pjzhi r2 cos d dr (32) the final control system design in detail but rather to examine the
0 i 0 0 response of propellant sloshing to the controller and find the coupling
phenomenon of the coupled system. Based on the aforementioned
procedure, the effectiveness of the numerical calculations for the
The detailed representations for the sloshing forces Fx , Fy , and Fz dynamics of the whole coupled system is validated by extensively
and sloshing moments Mx , Mz can also be found in Appendix. numerical simulations. Considering the space limitation, we only
 6 Article in Advance / BAOZENG, WENJUN, AND YULONG

Start

Input parameters

Build the equation Input sloshing

of the main body equation of i th tank

No
Complete the modeling
Fig. 4 Thruster actuation in step driver mode.
Yes

Solve equation Output result End mass of the liquid fuel is 600 kg, the principle moments of inertia
for spacecraft are Jxx  Jyy  Jzz  1500 kg m2 , the coefficient
Fig. 2 Program flowchart of the numerical simulations for the coupled
spacecraft.
of the free liquid surface tension is  3.39 102 N m1 , the
density of liquid fuel is  0.86 103 kg m3 , and the effective
gravity factor is g  9.8 102 N m2 . To illustrate the effec-
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include partial numerical simulation results in the next section to
conform the model and method presented in this paper.
III. Numerical Simulations and Discussions
A. Example 1: Influence of Orbit Thruster Actuation on the Coupled
System
Physical parameters for the spacecraft model and liquid fuel are
chosen as follows: the total mass of the rigid platform is 800 kg, the
tiveness of the present method, we consider four cases of the layout of
the fuel tanks, as shown in Fig. 3, where R1  0.6 m, R2  0.4 m,
R3  0.3 m, d1  1.2 m, d2  0.2 m, and d3  0.8 m. The space-
craft thruster actuation mode along the orbit direction is shown in
Fig. 4. The maximum force Fx max of the thruster is 10 N.
The numerical simulation results are shown in Figs. 57. From the
numerical results, it is easily found that the layout of the fuel tanks
relative to the main rigid body has certain influences on the spacecraft

Cases number Layout of fuel tanks Top view or side view

Case 1

A-1 One single tank A-2 Top view

Case 2

B-1 Two parallel tanks B-2 Top view

Case 3

C-1 Two series tanks C-2 Side view

Case 4

D-1 Four parallel tanks D-2 Top view

Fig. 3 Different cases for location layout of liquid fuel tanks (including tank number).
 Article in Advance
Fig. 5 Response of orbit velocity of spacecraft.
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Fig. 6 Response of attitude angular velocity of spacecraft.
dynamics and the coupled sloshing dynamics. For the same total
mass of liquid fuel carried by the spacecraft subject to the step driver
mode, in cases with small-sized tanks, the spacecraft has a more rapid
orbit velocity response (Fig. 5), as well as smaller pitch nutation
angular velocity response (Fig. 6) and fuel sloshing wave height
response (Fig. 7), than in the case with one single large-sized tank.
This means that, in the aspect of dynamic performance, the spacecraft
with a greater number of smaller-sized tanks has more advantages
over the spacecraft with a lower number of larger-sized tanks. Of
course, for the particular, actual needs of the project, there will be a
tradeoff between the number of tanks and the complexity of the
installation.
B. Example 2: Influence of Attitude Controller on the Coupling
Dynamics
To further confirm the reliability of the model and method
presented in this paper, the attitude controller using the momentum
wheel is applied to the coupled spacecraft system. Three momentum
wheels are assumed to be located respectively aligned the axes of the
body-fixed reference frame, and the moments of inertia of the rotor
are chosen as Jwx  Jwy  Jwz  0.5 kg m2 . Other param-
eters are the same as in the Sec. III.A. For the well-known PD (i.e.,
Proportional plus derivative controller) controller, the control
moments applied to the three axes are given by [25]
8 (Fig. 12). The coupling between spacecraft pitch nutation and liquid
>
< Mx  Jwx kpx x  kdx _ x  y z z y 
My  Jwy kpy y  kdy _ y  z x x z 
>
: though the primary sloshing modal is efficiently suppressed during
Mz  Jwz kpz z  kdz _ z  x y y x 
Fig. 7 Response of sloshing wave height at the tank wall.
/ BAOZENG, WENJUN, AND YULONG 7
Fig. 8 Thruster actuation in zero-momentum step driver mode.
Fig. 9 Translation response of spacecraft (subplot shows the case with
no liquid sloshing).
where kpi and kdi are, respectively, the proportional and derivative
control gains (the subscript index i represents, respectively, x, y,
and z). In this numerical simulation, these gain parameters are,
respectively, chosen as kpi  p Jxx ; J yy ; Jzz T and kdi  d J xx ;
Jyy ; J zz T , where p  0.04 and d  0.032. The orbit thruster firing
actuates in the zero-momentum step driver mode, as shown as in
Fig. 8. In this example, the degree of freedom for the whole coupled
system must be augmented by three degrees of the freedom, i.e., x ,
y , and z .The numerical simulation results are presented in
Figs. 916.
The aforementioned simulation results show the following:
1) Fuel sloshing has a nonnegligible influence on the spacecraft
orbital dynamics (see Fig. 9, where the obvious spacecraft translation
appears in the orbit plane caused by fuel sloshing because no orbital
controller is taken into account).
2) The primary planar or nonplanar primary sloshing modal
(m  n  1) is the dominant liquid-sloshing mode in most cases
sloshing causes the permanent response in pitch to exhibit a residual
oscillation that cannot be acceptable for the pointing system. Al-
the process of completing the control scheme, the higher planar or
nonplanar modal (m  1, n > 1) is undesirably excited by the
Fig. 10 Response of attitude angle of spacecraft.
 8 Article in Advance / BAOZENG, WENJUN, AND YULONG

Fig. 11 Response of attitude angular velocity of momentum wheel.

Fig. 15 Response of wave height in tank 1 caused by initial disturbance

from a11
0.03.
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS on June 18, 2016 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/1.J055110

Fig. 12 Response of dominant modal coefficients of liquid fuel sloshing

in tank 1.

Fig. 16 Response of wave height in tank 4 caused by initial disturbance

from a11
0.03.

Fig. 13 Response of wave height of liquid fuel sloshing in tank 1.
controller, and the later influence on the coupled system seems to be
more difficult to suppress (Fig. 12).
3) At the initial stage of response, the coupled liquid sloshing
exhibits a highly complex dynamic phenomenon. As time goes on,
the dynamic responses are turned into an undamped and coupling-
forced vibration at the fundamental symmetric sloshing frequency.
So, it is very important to use the passive or active liquid-sloshing
suppression measures in liquid-filled tanks if the spacecraft needs to
be accurately controlled (Figs. 1013).
4) The initial disturbance (this kind of disturbance may happen, for
example, due to the course of liquid hydrogen shutoff during draining
[13]) to liquid fuel sloshing happening in one fuel tank can cause a
different level of disturbance to the liquid motion in other fuel tanks
during completion of the control scheme for spacecraft attitude
stabilization (Figs. 1416). This phenomenon fully demonstrates the
existence of the coupling dynamics among the propellant tanks and
attitude control system.
IV. Conclusions
In this paper, the modeling and coupling dynamics of a spacecraft
with multiple propellant tanks is studied and a computational scheme
for modular modeling and dynamics analysis of a complex spacecraft
consisting of a rigid body with multiple liquid-filled cylindrical tanks
under a low-gravity environment is presented. This study shows that
the number of tanks and the installation layout can exert different
influences on the spacecraft motion. The case study reveals that the
liquidspacecraft coupling effect causes a permanent response in
pitch nutation to exhibit a residual oscillation that cannot be accept-
able for a pointing system, which is an important issue to be taken into
account for attitude control subsystem performance evaluation. Both
the primary dominant mode and the higher-order mode exist simulta-
neously during the evolution process of the coupling dynamics of the
coupled fluidspacecraft. It also shows that the disturbance to liquid
fuel sloshing happening in one fuel tank can cause some different-
level disturbances to the liquid motion in other fuel tanks during
completion of the control scheme for spacecraft attitude stabilization.
The proposed method in this paper can be easily used to carry out
rigidliquid coupling dynamics analysis for multiple-tank liquid-
filled spacecraft with coupled translation and attitude dynamics. The
results presented have an important reference value to the overall
design of the modern spacecraft.
Appendix: Detailed Expressions for Equation Coefficients
and Sloshing Forces and Moments
The coefficients in the equations for liquid sloshing are displayed
as follows:

0; s  0 or n s
D1ns 
1; s 0 and n  s

8 
>
> R1
>
> 2 0 n0 sinh n0 Zi H i 
J0 n0 R
>
> coshn0 Hi 
>
>
>

>
< coshn0 Zi Hi  J 0 n0 R 0 dF R dR; s0
coshn0 H i  dR
D2ns  
>
> R
>
> J2 2  01 n0 sinh n0 Zi H i 
J 0 n0 R
>
> coshn0 H i 
>
>
0 s0


>
> coshn0 Zi Hi  J  R 0 dF RJ  R dR;
Fig. 14 Response of dominant modal coefficients caused by initial : s0
coshn0 H i  0 n0 dR 0 s0
disturbance from a11
0.03.
 Article in Advance / BAOZENG, WENJUN, AND YULONG 9

8 Z
> R 22s1 1 4
< n0 Zi H i 
D10ns1 
coshn0 H 0  J 0 n0 RR dR;
2 01 cosh s0
s1 1J21 s1  n1 2n1 1J1 n1 
D3ns  R 1 coshn0 Zi H i 
2
0
> 2
: J20 s0 coshn0 H i  J 0 n0 RRJ 0 s0 RdR; s0
 0 sinhn1 Zi 
J  RRJ 1 s1 R dR
coshn1 H i  1 n1

8  
>
> R1
> i 00 0
R0 J 0 n0 R i R3i Q1 J 0 n0 R  Q2 J 0 n0 R s0
g
< 2 0 R dR;
D4ns   
>
> R1 i 00 0
> 2
: J20 s0  0 R0 J 0 n0 R R3 Q1 J 0 n0 R  Q2 J 0 n0 R RJ 0 s0 R dR; s 0
g
i i

 32
41 R3 
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS on June 18, 2016 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/1.J055110

 Q1 
vz  x Ryi y Rxi ; s0 4 4R3  9R4 2i
F1ns 
0; s0

48 16R3  8R6 90R4 2i  9R7 2i 1 R3 12

Q2 
R4 4R3  9R4 2i 52
8  12
R 2 1 R3 
< 2v_z  _ x Ryi _ y Rxi  01 Ri i 1 1 R3 2 R dR; s  0 Q3  2
F2ns  2v_z _ x Ryi _ y Rxi  R 1 R 4 4R3  9R4 2i
: J2   0 Ri i 1 1 R  J 0 s0 RR dR; s 0
3 2
0 s0

The reaction sloshing forces and moments for the coupled system
are detailed as
 
1 2
Z 1 Fxi t  i R5i v x
_ _ z Ryi  _ y Rzi i  H i   _ y Hi i 
2
22s1 n1 sinhn1 Zi H i  2
D5ns1  J1 n1 R X 
2s1 1J21 s1  0 coshn1 Hi 
   i i R4i v_ z  _ x Ryi _ y Rxi  cn1 tJ1 n1 
coshn1 Zi H i  dF
J1 n1 R 0 RJ 1 s1 R dR n1
coshn1 H i  dR X

4_y sinhn1 i  Hi 
 i R4i
2 2 1
n1 n1 n1
coshn1 H i 
X 
Ri i cn1 tJ1 n1 
Z 1 n1
22s1 4 coshn1 Zi  X

sinhn1 i  H i 
D6ns1  2 J1 n1 R i R4i a_ n1 tJ1 n1 
s1 1J 21 s1  0 2n1 1J 1 n1  coshn1 H i  n1 coshn1 Hi 
  n1
4 coshn1 Zi  1 dF
J 
1 n1 R RJ 1 s1 RdR
n1 2n1 1J1 n1  coshn1 Hi  dR
 
1
Fyi t  i R5i v_ y  _ z Rxi _ x Rzi i  H i   _ x H2i 2i 
2
X 
Z1 i i R4i v_ z 
_ x Ryi
_ y Rxi  dn1 tJ 1 n1 
22s1 coshn1 Zi Hi  n1
D7ns1  J1 n1 RRJ 1 s1 RdR
s1 1J 1 s1  0
2 2 coshn1 H i  X

4_x sinhn1 i  H i 
i R4i
n1
2
n1  2
n1 1 coshn1 Hi 
X 
 Ri i dn1 tJ1 n1 
Z
22s1 1 i n1
D8ns1  Q1 J 10 0 n1 R X

sinhn1 i  H i 
s1 1J21 s1 
2
0 i R3i i R4i b_n1 tJ1 n1 
n1 coshn1 Hi 
 Q2 J 10 n1 R Q3 J1 n1 RRJ 1 s1 R dR n1

Fzi t  i R3i H i v_ z  _ x Ryi

_ y Rxi 
Z Z R X 
22s1 1 i J  rRi 
D9n1  Rzi  Zi R2 J1 s1 R dR 2i R2i a_ n0 t 0 n0 r dr
2s1 1J 21 s1  0 0 n1
coshn0 Hi 
 10 Article in Advance / BAOZENG, WENJUN, AND YULONG

1 and 11532002) and the research fund for the Doctoral Program of the
Mxi t  i R6i v_ y  _ z Rxi _ x Rzi H2i 2i  Higher Education of China through grant no. 20131101110002. The
2
X  authors are also very grateful to the Guangxi Natural Science
1
 i R6i _ x H3i  3i  R2i i i dn1 tJ 1 n1  Foundation (grant no. 2015GXNSFBA139013).
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T. L. Jackson
Associate Editor