A review of dynamic analysis on space solar power station

The concept of a space solar power station (SSPS) was proposed in 1968 as a potential approach for solving the energy crisis. In the past 50 years, several structural concepts have been proposed, but none have been sent into orbit. One of the main challenges of the SSPS is dynamic behavior prediction, which can supply the necessary information for control strategy design. The ultra-large size of the SSPS causes difficulties in its dynamic analysis, such as the ultra-low vibration frequency and large flexibility. In this paper, four approaches for the numerical analysis of the dynamic problems associated with the SSPS are reviewed: the finite element, absolute nodal coordinate, floating frame formulation, and structure-preserving methods. Both the merits and shortcomings of the above four approaches are introduced when they are employed in dynamic problems associated with the SSPS. Synthesizing the merits of the aforementioned four approaches, we believe that embedding the structure-preserving method into finite element software may be an effective way to perform a numerical analysis of the dynamic problems associated with the SSPS.