Abstract
This numerical study evaluates the concept of a combined mesh-plate bumper as a shielding system protecting unmanned spacecraft from small (1 mm) orbital debris impacts. Two-component bumpers consisting of an external layer of woven mesh (aluminum or steel) directly applied to a surface of the aluminum plate are considered. Results of numerical modeling with a projectile velocity of 7 km/s indicate that, in comparison to the steel mesh-combined bumper, the combination of aluminum mesh and aluminum plate provides better fragmentation of small hypervelocity projectiles. At the same time, none of the combined mesh/plate bumpers provide a significant increase of ballistic properties as compared to an aluminum plate bumper. This indicates that the positive results reported in the literature for bumpers with metallic meshes and large projectiles are not scalable down to millimeter-sized particles. Based on this investigation’s results, a possible modification of the combined mesh/plate bumper is proposed for the future study.
Highlights
Orbital debris impacts represent a serious threat to the operational integrity of space vehicles
Comparison of the overall shape of the fragment clouds presented in Figure 6, their lengths, cone angles, and diameters, as well as the shapes of ejecta clouds, indicate that the employed numerical scheme is capable of accurately representing the fragmentation of millimeter-size hypervelocity projectiles
If the choice is to be made between the steel mesh- and the aluminum mesh-plate bumper, the latter configuration should be preferred, as it demonstrates better efficiency while having the same areal density
Summary
Orbital debris impacts represent a serious threat to the operational integrity of space vehicles. Experimental studies conducted by NASA [7, 8] showed that so-called mesh double-bumper shield, consisting of spaced discrete (mesh), continuous (aluminum plates), and flexible (fabrics) layers, may have lower ballistic weight compared to the conventional shield with a continuous bumper. It should be noted, that shielding systems with multiple spaced layers typically require higher nonballistic parasitic weight for fasteners, spacers, and so forth [4]. All investigations in this study were conducted by means of numerical modeling using SPH solver of ANSYS AUTODYN hydrocode [9] for a 1 mm aluminum projectile impacting the shields at a speed of 7 km/s
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