The deployment and curing of multi-layer film structures for inflatable and large Gossamer-type space structures requires accurate modeling of the temperature distributions within and among the different layers of the structure. The Sinda Temperature Translator (STT) was developed to specifically provide the application of accurate thermal load profiles on each component of thin film multi-layer space inflatable structures during the performance of multidiscipline analyses. STT provides a methodology to accurately map the temperatures obtained during transient thermal orbital analyses (finite difference methods) to structural finite element analyses (FEA) models.
The derivation of the equations are for the translation of temperatures from the thermal models such as SINDA/G, which places the temperatures at the centroid of the elements, to traditional structural models, such as Cosmos/M and NASTRAN that places the temperatures at the corners of the element. The derivations in this paper covers only translations to Cosmos/M but is applicable to NASTRAN.
STT is a computer program which translates the temperatures from the SINDA/G coordinate system to the structures coordinate system using linear averaging. The four closest points from the SINDA/G coordinate system are used to obtain the temperatures for the structures model.
The temperatures must be translated component by component in order to assure accuracy, since the SINDA/G model uses the coordinates of the centroid of the element and the structures model uses the corner points of the element. The SINDA model and the structures model do not have to have the same element size or pattern, although the global coordinate systems must be the same for both the thermal and structures models. Examples of accurate translation of temperatures using this method have been obtained for interdiscipline models for aeroshell and space inflatable structures. These results are presented as validation of the methodology.