Integration of thermo-elastic characteristics in finite element method reduced models

A simple method for integrating thermo-elastic characteristics in finite element method (FEM) reduced models is presented. Methods like Guyan or Craig-Bampton reductions are widely used in the space industry, as they drastically decrease the size of models and also allow safe model exchanges between companies without disclosing sensitive technologies. On the other hand, reduced models cannot be implemented in thermo-elastic analyses, which are of paramount importance for spacecrafts mainly for on-orbit sizing and pointing analyses. The new presented method is simple to implement and consists of replacing the dropped thermo-elastic characteristics of the reduced models by a set of interface forces and moments. These are computed by clamping the physical FEM model at its interfaces and applying unit thermal loads on the different internal zones. An analytical and a numerical example are presented. The implementation in FEM shows high accuracy.