Sand Impact Tests of a Half-Scale Crew Module Test Article

Abstract

AbstractAlthough the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) is being designed primarily for water landings, the possibility exists of an onshore landing at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) following a launch abort. To obtain data to evaluate the adequacy of sand material models used in beach landing simulations, sand impact tests were conducted at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LRC). Both vertical drop tests and swing tests with combined vertical and horizontal velocity were performed onto beds of common construction-grade sand using a geometrically scaled crew module test article. The tests were simulated using the explicit, nonlinear, transient dynamic finite-element code LS-DYNA. The shape of the test article was similar to a scaled crew module, but the structure was much heavier and was sufficiently robust to survive multiple impacts without permanent deformation. The focus was the sand model, not the structural response of the test article. The sand material ...