A computational framework for the study of the diurnal thermo-mechanical behavior of the Giant Magellan Telescope

Henry Fitzpatrick; Rod Conan; Konstantinos Vogiatzis; Kaushik Das; Christoph Dribusch

doi:10.1117/12.3020120

23 August 2024 A computational framework for the study of the diurnal thermo-mechanical behavior of the Giant Magellan Telescope

Henry Fitzpatrick, Rod Conan, Konstantinos Vogiatzis, Kaushik Das, Christoph Dribusch

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 13099, Modeling, Systems Engineering, and Project Management for Astronomy XI; 130992I (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020120
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2024, Yokohama, Japan

Conference Poster

Abstract

The Giant Magellan Telescope project has invested in creating a series of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models to analyze how aero-thermodynamic effects impact the telescope optical performance. We use several models that feed into each other for the goal of accurately determining temperature induced collimation errors. We start with thermal network modeling, using one-dimensional approximations for a long period of time. The second is a detailed CFD model of the entire telescope. This model generates a transient, three-dimensional temperature distribution within the telescope structure over a timespan ranging from a few hours to several days in a cyclical nature. These temperature maps are fed into a structural model of the telescope, using finite element and finite volume analysis, which calculates how the structural components deform in response to the temperature spatial variability. They also provide more accurate surface temperatures for dome seeing estimates. This combined thermo-mechanical model serves to quantify the telescope optical misalignment with respect to the ambient temperature diurnal variation. These thermal deformations are then fed to the telescope optical model, which conducts the ray tracing through the optics to the telescope focal plane, ultimately yielding the associated image quality. This paper outlines the computational framework developed for these purposes and showcases some of the results obtained.

Citation Download Citation

Henry Fitzpatrick, Rod Conan, Konstantinos Vogiatzis, Kaushik Das, and Christoph Dribusch "A computational framework for the study of the diurnal thermo-mechanical behavior of the Giant Magellan Telescope", Proc. SPIE 13099, Modeling, Systems Engineering, and Project Management for Astronomy XI, 130992I (23 August 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020120

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