SIMULATION OF THE CABLE MESH REFLECTOR FOR THE LARGE RADIO TELESCOPE FAST

For the feasibility problem of the cable mesh reflector for a large radio telescope FAST, this paper develops a set of specialized finite element software and proposes a feedback control algorithm for fitting the cable mesh reflector to paraboloid. Simulation of the feedback control algorithm is carried out on the finite element model of the cable mesh reflector utilizing the finite element software to study the feasibility problem. Finite element method is adopted for modeling and simulation of the cable mesh. Thus a four-node cable element suitable for large-scale spatial displacements is derived, and dynamic relaxation method is used for the form-finding of three-dimensional cable structures.