Frequency sweep for a beam system with local unilateral contact modeling satellite solar arrays

In order to save mass of satellite solar arrays, the flexibility of the panels becomes not negligible and they may strike each other; this may damage the structure. To prevent this, rubber snubbers are mounted at well chosen points of the structure and they act as one sided linear spring; as a negative consequence, the dynamic of these panels becomes nonlinear. The finite element approximation is used to solve partial differential equations governing the structural dynamic. Frequency sweep has been performed numerically to study the dynamic behavior. Non linear normal modes are under study