Hypervelocity impact response of aluminum multi-wall structures

Abstract

All habitable long-duration spacecraft developed for a mission into the meteoroid and space debris environment must include adequate protection against perforation of pressurized components by meteoroid and space debris particle impact. These impacts occur at extremely high speeds and can damage flight-critical systems, which can in turn lead to catastrophic failure of the spacecraft and possibly loss of life. This paper presents the results of an investigation in which the perforation resistance of aluminum multi-wall structures is analyzed under a variety of hypervelocity impact loading conditions. A comparative analysis of the impact damage in structural systems with two or more bumpers and the damage in single-bumper systems of similar weight is performed to determine the advantages and disadvantages of employing more than one bumper in structural wall systems for long-duration spacecraft. The analysis indicates that a significant increase in protection against perforation by hypervelocity projectiles can be achieved if a single bumper is replaced by two bumpers of similar weight while the total wall spacing is kept constant. It was also found that increasing the number of bumpers beyond two while keeping the total stand-off distance constant does not result in a substantial increase in protection over that offered by two bumpers of similar weight.