Development and Evaluation of Various Design Concepts for Stress Relief Brackets of Space Craft Component MUX Using CAE Tools

Abstract

Design and development of space craft components operating for high power application involve combinations of different materials to satisfy the functionality. Such combinations of different materials are likely to undergo thermal excursions during the operational life. Combinations of different materials with different linear coefficient of thermal expansion “α”, when subjected to predominant thermal excursions tend to develop complex thermal stress fields. This in combination with the elastic constraints may be adhesive bonding or bolting connection will call for a structural stress field. The generated stress fields affect the functionality of the component by producing the change in dimensional accuracy. One such space craft component is Multiplexer (MUX) which is an RF (Radio Frequency) filter. This paper deals with identifying the cause and criticality of supporting brackets for multiplexer cavities for thermo structural stress relief. Various modifications in the design of the existing brackets are proposed and evaluated with the help of Finite Element simulations using various CAE tools for the relief of generated thermo structural stresses.