<p>Plate-type satellite is widely applied in internet constellation systems. However, due to structural characteristics such as asymmetry assembly, high flexibility, and joint clearance, the solar array system is the main load to encounter nonlinear disturbances during its deployment and attitude adjustment. This study discusses the coupling effect of flexibility and joint clearance on the dynamic responses and proposes the control method. First, the rigid-flexible coupled dynamic model is established based on the nodal coordinate formulation for the rigid main body of plate-type satellite and the absolute nodal coordinate formulation for the flexible solar array systems. The collision between the journal and bearing resulted from joint clearance is described by Lankarani-Nikravesh (L-N) model for normal force, Stribeck model for tangential friction, and Archard model for wearing. Subsequently, based on the dynamics model with the nonholonomic constraints, the dynamic characteristic, vibration phenomenon and joint wearing evolution in the flexible solar array system are analyzed during various deployment stages to elucidate the effect and mechanism of joint clearances and flexibility on dynamic performances. Finally, a fuzzy-adaptive-sliding-mode controller is designed to maintain the required dynamic characteristics and suppress nonlinear vibrations. The results show that the proposed control effectively suppresses nonlinear vibrations caused by the disturbances including joint clearance and flexibility, lightens the joint wearing evolution and impact force, and achieves superior control accuracy and robustness for the attitude stabilization of satellite. This study gives the mechanism for disturbances, accurate dynamic prediction and effective vibration control method of plate-type satellite with flexible solar array systems.</p>