Computational Modeling of Electrostatic Charge and Fields Produced by Hypervelocity Impact

Abstract

Following prior experimental evidence of electrostatic charge separation, electric and magnetic fields produced by hypervelocity impact, we have developed a model of electrostatic charge separation based on plasma sheath theory and implemented it into the CTH shock physics code. Preliminary assessment of the model shows good qualitative and quantitative agreement between the model and prior experiments at least in the hypervelocity regime for the porous carbonate material tested. Moreover, the model agrees with the scaling analysis of experimental data performed in the prior work, suggesting that electric charge separation and the resulting electric and magnetic fields can be a substantial effect at larger scales, higher impact velocities, or both.