Thermal analysis of space trusses including three-dimensional effects

A numerical procedure is devised for the thermal analysis of three-dimensional large truss-type space structures exposed to solar radiation. Truss members made of an orthotropic material with a closed thin-walled cross-section of arbitrary shape are considered. Three-dimensional thermal effects are taken into account in the analysis. In the proposed method, the governing equations are first put into a weak form. Then the Galerkin finite element method is applied with respect to the axial coordinate of each truss member. The circumferential variation of the temperature is treated by a symbolically-coded harmonic balance procedure. The interaction between the various truss members is controlled by an iterative scheme. As a numerical example which demonstrates the proposed method, the temperature distribution in a parabolic dish structure is found. The results are compared to those obtained by standard one- and two-dimensional analyses.