Hypervelocity Impact Of Space Debris Research Articles

Hypervelocity Impact Complex Defect Detection Method Based on Multiobjective-Guided Filter Infrared Thermal Image Fusion

The hypervelocity impact of space debris can cause complex types of defects for spacecraft, posing a significant challenge for spacecraft damage assessment. To meet the need for detecting complex defects, a novel spacecraft damage assessment method based on multi-objective guided-filter infrared thermal image fusion is proposed. The fusion needs of multiple types of defects are jointly optimised by considering them in the image fusion process. Various feature damage fusion needs are considered and optimised simultaneously in the image fusion process. Multiple cost functions for different categories of damage not only consider the edge preservation requirements of large defects but also retain more subtle damage details while suppressing noise. The experiment demonstrates that the propose method, which takes into account multiple damage fusion objectives, exhibits improved performance compared to the conventional single-target fusion methods.

Research on the Influence of Impedance-Layer Changes on the Protective Properties of Wave-Impedance Materials under Hypervelocity Impact

The hypervelocity impact of space debris causes damage or destruction to spacecraft. The continuous damage caused by space debris creates greater requirements for protective materials. Wave-impedance gradient-protection material is a new type of space-debris-protection material with high kinetic-energy dissipation. However, the relationship between the distribution characteristics of the impedance layer and the protective performance is still unclear. This study provides guidance for the design of high-performance wave-impedance gradient materials by establishing the quantitative relationship between impedance-layer distribution characteristics and protective performance. Based on the one-dimensional shock-wave theory, this paper analyzes the propagation process of shock waves in wave-impedance gradient materials, establishes a transmission model of shock waves with changes in impedance layers, and quantitatively studies the influence of the change in wave impedance on the impact pressure, internal-energy conversion, and projectile- breaking characteristics by means of a numerical simulation. The results show that, when the surface and back of the wave-impedance gradient material are titanium alloy and nylon, respectively, the total transmission coefficient increases from 0.206 to a maximum of 0.339 with the continuous change in the gradient. The reduction amplitude of the shock wave with time under the three working conditions is Ti-Al-Mg-Ny > Ti-Al-Ny > Ti-Ny. The relationship of the transformed internal energy is Ti Al-Mg-Ny > Ti-Al-Ny > Ti-Ny, and the projectile breaking area is Ti-Al-Mg-Ny > Ti-Al-Ny > Ti-Ny. The analysis shows that the continuous change in wave impedance is beneficial to reduce the attenuation of the amplitude of the shock wave in the hypervelocity projectile, to keep the stress amplitude of the shock wave at a higher level, and to improve the internal-energy conversion and impact-breaking degree of the projectile, thereby enhancing the protection performance of the wave-impedance gradient material.

Impact resistance mechanism of reactive material bumper for spacecraft Whipple shield: Experiments and numerical simulations

With the rapid development of human manned spaceflight, the threat of hypervelocity impact of space debris to spacecraft safety has attracted more and more attention, and new materials for spacecraft shield need to be developed to meet the challenges caused by explosive growth of space debris. In this paper, the experiments of projectiles with hypervelocity impact on the Whipple shields with reactive material as bumpers were carried out by using two-stage light-gas gun. Through numerical simulations and experiments, the interaction between projectile and reactive material bumper was studied, and the fragments distribution, velocity and temperature of debris cloud induced by projectile impacting on reactive material bumper were analyzed. The hypervelocity impact resistance mechanism of Whipple shield with reactive material as bumper was obtained. The results show that the impact and detonation reaction combined effect of reactive material bumper can cause the projectile to be subjected to shock wave load twice, which leads to more effective fragmentation of projectile, more effective dispersion and deceleration of debris cloud, and more effective temperature rise of material. Reactive material bumper can improve the protective capability of Whipple shield, and has a great potential application prospect.

Variational Bayesian multi-sparse component extraction for damage reconstruction of space debris hypervelocity impact

Variational Bayesian multi-sparse component extraction for damage reconstruction of space debris hypervelocity impact

Hypervelocity impact behavior of projectile penetration on spacecraft structure: A review

Spacecraft structure has been protected against the space debris impact by using a bumper plate and main plate. When the debris impacts a thin bumper plate at hypervelocity, debris clouds form and the bumper cause the fragment to shatter and reduces the fragment's ability to penetrate the main structure. The size of the hole in the bumper plate indicates the level of damage to the primary structure. The projectile material's mass in the cloud creates a considerable ballistic threat to the main structure. Various stages of the penetration process have been discussed. The empirical and approximate theoretical formulations created to characterize many features of hypervelocity impact when the projectile and some of the target materials undergo enormous plastic deformation, breakdown, melting, or vaporization are reviewed. For the numerical simulation of hypervelocity impact of space debris on spacecraft structure, Johnson-Cook material and failure model along with Mie-Gruneisen equation of state are used. For the hypervelocity impact experiment, a two-stage light gas gun is mostly preferred.

Study on Numerical Simulation Methods for Hypervelocity Impact on Large-Scale Complex Spacecraft Structures

This paper aims to study the difference of results in breakup state judgment, debris cloud and fragment characteristic parameter during hypervelocity impact (HVI) on large-scale complex spacecraft structures by various numerical simulation methods. We compared the results of the test of aluminum projectile impact on an aluminum plate with the simulation results of the smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH), finite element method (FEM)-smoothed particle Galerkin (SPG) fixed coupling method, node separation method, and finite element method-smooth particle hydrodynamics adaptive coupling method under varying mesh/particle sizes. Then based on the test of the complex simulated satellite under hypervelocity impact of space debris, the most applicable algorithm was selected and used to verify the accuracy of the calculation results. It was found that the finite element method-smooth particle hydrodynamics adaptive coupling method has lower mesh sensitivity in displaying the contour of the debris cloud and calculating its characteristic parameters, making it more suitable for the full-scale numerical simulation of hypervelocity impact. Moreover, this algorithm can simulate the macro breakup state of the full-scale model with complex structure and output debris fragments with clear boundaries and accurate shapes. This study provides numerical simulation method options for the follow-up research on breakup conditions, damage effects, debris clouds, and fragment characteristics of large-scale complex spacecraft.

A reactive material double-bumper shield for centimeter sized projectile

The hypervelocity impact of space debris will cause fatal damage to spacecraft. At present, most of the protective shield structures can only resist the impact of millimeter sized projectiles, and it is very difficult for the protective structure with the finite area density and overall spacing to be impacted by the projectile with the diameter ≥1cm without failure. In this paper, a PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene)/Al (aluminum) reactive material double-bumper shield for centimeter sized space debris was presented, and the experiments of projectiles with hypervelocity impact on PTFE/Al reactive material double-bumper shields were carried out by using two-stage light-gas gun. The hypervelocity impact characteristics of Aluminum alloy double-bumper shield and PTFE/Al reactive material double-bumper shield were compared by numerical simulation. The ballistic limit curve of the PTFE/Al reactive material double-bumper shield was obtained by experiments and numerical simulations. The PTFE/Al reactive material double-bumper shield can resist the impact of the projectiles with the diameter ≥1cm at the low velocity range, intermediate velocity range, and the high velocity range. The PTFE/Al reactive material double-bumper shield can stop projectiles with 2∼4 times greater mass than the Aluminum alloy double-bumper shield at these impact conditions, and the PTFE/Al reactive material double-bumper shield can provide better protection than the Aluminum alloy double-bumper shield of equivalent weight. Compared with the Nextel/Kevlar Stuffed-Whipple shield, the impact resistance of PTFE/Al reactive materials is not lower than that of Nextel/Kevlar fiber materials.

Infrared Detection Method for Hypervelocity Impact Based on Thermal Image Fusion

As the number of space debris has increased rapidly in recent years, it poses a major threat to the safety of spacecraft in space, and damage assessment for space debris hypervelocity impact is very important. In order to more comprehensively and accurately describe the damage defects in the infrared inspection data collected by infrared thermal imaging technology, this paper proposes an ultra-high-speed impact damage detection algorithm based on infrared reconstruction image fusion. The algorithm first preprocesses the obtained infrared thermal response image sequence and separates the damage features, and then applies a multi-objective evolutionary optimization algorithm to extract the typical transient thermal response, and then reconstructs the feature infrared images. Finally, image fusion based on guided filtering is performed on the damage reconstruction infrared images. In this paper, several reconstruction images that represent different types of impact damage defect are merged together to improve the detection ability of the algorithm. Infrared detection experiments on damaged specimens obtained from actual hypervelocity impacts verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

High velocity impact characteristics of MWNT added CFRP at LEO space environment

In this paper, multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWNT) added carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) composites are suggested as solutions to improve the impact energy absorbing capability of CFRP for spacecraft application because it was proven that the resistance against LEO environment and the quasi-static material properties of CFRP can be improved by adding MWNT in previous papers. To verify the effect of MWNT on the impact energy absorbing capability of composite materials, normal CFRP and MWNT-reinforced CFRP were prepared and tested by using a two-stage light gas gun that can accelerate an aluminum ball of a diameter of 5.56 mm to 1 km/s. And the applicability of MWNT against hypervelocity impact of space debris was studied. In addition, accelerated ground simulation experiments were performed for each material model to simulate the aging of composite materials to verify the effect of LEO environmental aging on impact absorbing capability of composites. For the aging experiment, the impact specimens were simultaneously exposed to high vacuum, atomic oxygen, ultra violet light, and thermal cycling. After being exposed to simulated LEO environment, high velocity impact tests were performed for each material. As a result, MWNT did not have a significant improvement on the impact energy absorbing capability of CFRP under high velocity impact, even though the quasi static material properties are improved by adding MWNT. This is caused by the early generation of fiber breakages on the impact surface before enough generation of progressive failure which is one of the impact energy absorbing mechanism. Similarly, MWNT has less effect on the impact energy absorbing capability of CFRP under LEO environment.

Hypervelocity impact performance of aluminum egg-box panel enhanced Whipple shield

The enhanced Whipple shield is widely used on the space stations against space debris hypervelocity impact. Numerical investigation is conducted in this paper to test the concept of using the egg-box panel as the enhanced layer. Taking the flat panel as the benchmark and then the enhanced flat panel is substituted with the egg-box panel. For objective comparison all the egg-box panels have the same areal density as the benchmark flat panel. The performance is tested from the aspects of impact area, cell size and the axial offset, etc. The egg-box panel absorbs more incoming debris energy and generates less large fragments from itself. It can be fabricated by the stamping and forming of the aluminum flat sheet, the cost of manufacture would not be significantly increased. The egg-box panel has better performance than the flat panel and is appropriate to be the enhanced layer of the Whipple shield.

Improved shielding structure with double honeycomb cores for hyper-velocity impact

Aluminum sandwich panel made from double honeycomb cores can serve as a cost-effective shielding structure against hyper-velocity impact of space debris. The double honeycomb sandwich panel is improved and investigated in detail in this paper. Different from the original structure, the transverse position of the intermediate facesheet is varied instead of at the right middle of the panel. The influence of the transverse position is investigated numerically with point-based internal-structure model and material point method. Much better shielding performance can be obtained when the distance between the intermediate facesheet and the front facesheet is around the equivalent shielding distance. The equivalent shielding distance is defined as the maximum distance the debris fragments can travel in transverse direction before they interact with honeycomb cell walls. The morphologies of the facesheets and the residual energy are also discussed. A new shielding structure with multiple intermediate facesheets is suggested based on simulation results, and substantially improved shielding capability is achieved.

English

The near Earth space environment is mostly covered with man-made debris and naturally occurred meteoroids. This space debris poses a threat to satellite structure because of their high velocity. It can easily damage the internal structure of satellite hence now-a-days Honeycomb Structure have been widely used in aerospace structures due to their high strength, lightweight and good energy absorbing capacity as well as it protects the internal parts of satellite from hypervelocity impact of space debris. This paper studies the effect of hypervelocity impact on honeycomb structure.

An Experimental Study of High-Velocity Impact on Aluminum Foam Composite Shield Structure

To study spacecraft shield structure against hypervelocity impact of space debris and its protective performances, 25mm ballistic gun launching 12.7mm cylindrical debris is selected against Aluminum foam composite structure at high speed. Based on the experimental results and analyze the effects of Aluminum foam protective structure with different combinations, the result is that protective effects with Aluminum foam in front of glass fiber is better.

Performance of Different Metal-Foam Stuffed Whipple Shield against Hypervelocity Impact of Space Debris

Hypervelocity impacts on spacecraft in low earth orbit by meteoroids and space debris poses a threat to space missions, and the use of a shield can significantly decrease the probability of a catastrophic failure. Tests have identified that metallic foams have a good shielding performance against hypervelocity impact by micro-meteoroids and orbital debris. A metal-foam stuffed Whipple shield was presented under the concept of light-weight shield structure. A meso-structure model of geometry for metallic foams was set up simulating their manufacturing process and validated by comparison with experimental results using own SPH code. Three base materials of foam, including Al 7075-T651, Ti and Al ZL102, were researched for their performances as stuff of shield by means of numerical simulation. The results indicated that different base materials show the best shield performance at different impact speeds with other conditions the same. The foam of Al ZL102 stuffed can cause the strongest radial dispersion of the secondary debris cloud and is more likely to provide the best shield performance, which is proved at the higher part of the speed range investigated.

The techniques of metallic foil electrically exploding driving hypervelocity flyer to more than 10 km/s for shock wave physics experiments

Electrical explosion of metallic foil or wire is widely used to the fields of material science (preparation of nao-meter materials), dynamics of materials, and high energy density physics. In this paper, the techniques of gaining hypervelocity flyer driven by electrical explosion of metallic foil were researched, which are used to study dynamics of materials and hypervelocity impact modeling of space debris. Based on low inductance technologies of pulsed storage energy capacitor, detonator switch and parallel plate transmission lines with solid films insulation, two sets of experimental apparatuses with storage energy of 14.4 kJ and 40 kJ were developed for launching hypervelocity flyer. By means of the diagnostic technologies of velocity interferometer system for any reflectors and fibre-optic pins, the hypervelocity polyester (Mylar) flyers were gained. For the apparatus of 14.4 kJ, flyer of diameter φ6 ~ φ10 mm and thickness of 0.1 ~ 0.2 mm was accelerated to the hypervelocity of 10 ~ 14 km/s. And for the apparatus of 40 kJ, flyer of diameter φ20 ~ 30 mm and thickness of 0.2 mm was launched to the velocity of 5 ~ 8 km/s. The flatness of the flyer is not more than 34 ns for the flyer with diameter of 20 mm, and less than 22 ns for the flyer with diameter of 10 mm. Based on the Lagrange hydrodynamic code, one dimensional simulation was done by introducing database of equation of states, discharging circuit equation and Joule heat equation, and modifying energy equation. The simulation results are well agreed with the experimental results in accelerating processing. The simulation results can provide good advices in designing new experiments and developing new experimental devices. Finally, some experiments of materials dynamics and hypervelocity impact of space debris were done by using the apparatus above. The results show that the apparatus of metallic foil electrically exploding driving hypervelocity flyer is a good and versatile tool for shock dynamics.

RETRACTED: The laser-driven flyer system for space debris hypervelocity impact simulations

This article has been retracted at the request of the Editors and Author. Please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy ). Reason: The authors have plagiarized part of a paper that had already appeared in Acta Mater. , 52 (2004) 5539–5549, doi: 10.1016/j.actamat.2004.08.013 . One of the conditions of submission of a paper for publication is that authors declare explicitly that their work is original and has not appeared in a publication elsewhere. Re-use of any data should be appropriately cited. As such this article represents a severe abuse of the scientific publishing system. The scientific community takes a very strong view on this matter and we apologize to readers of the journal that this was not detected during the submission process.

Crater Distribution on the Rear Wall of Aluminum Dual-sheet Structure under Hypervelocity Normal Impact

In order to simulate and study the hypervelocity impact of space debris on spacecrafts through hypervelocity impact on aluminum dual-sheet structure, a two-stage light gas gun is used to launch 2017-T4 aluminum alloy spherical projectiles. The projectile diameters range from 2.00 mm to 6.35 mm and impact velocities range from 1.50 km/s to 6.98 km/s. The impact angle is 0°for all the tests. Crater distribution modes on the rear wall of aluminum dual-sheet structure by hypervelocity impact of AL-spheres in different impact velocity ranges are obtained. Crater distribution characteristics on the rear wall are analyzed. The forecast equations for crater distribution on the rear wall of aluminum dual-sheet structure by hypervelocity normal impact are derived. The results show that crater distribution on the rear wall is a circle area under hypervelocity normal impact. As projectile diameter, impact velocity and shielding space increases, crater distribution area increases. The critical fragmentation velocity of impact projectile is an important factor affecting the crater distribution modes on the rear wall.

Crater distribution on the rear wall of AL-Whipple shield by hypervelocity impacts of AL-spheres

All spacecraft in low orbit are subject to hypervelocity impact by meteoroids and space debris, which can in turn lead to significant damage and catastrophic failure. In order to simulate and study the hypervelocity impact of space debris on spacecraft through hypervelocity impact on AL-Whipple shield, a two-stage light gas gun was used to launch 2017-T4 aluminum alloy sphere projectiles. The projectile diameters ranged from 2.51mm to 5.97mm and impact velocities ranged from 0.69km/s to 6.98km/s. The modes of crater distribution on the rear wall of AL-Whipple shield by hypervelocity impact of AL-spheres in different impact velocity ranges were obtained. The characteristics of the crater distribution on the rear wall were analyzed. The forecast equations for crater distribution on the rear wall of AL-Whipple shield by normal hypervelocity impact were derived. The results show that the crater distribution on the rear wall is a circular area. As projectile diameter, impact velocity and shielding spacing increased, the area of crater distribution increased. The critical fragmentation velocity of impact projectile is an important factor affecting the characteristics of the crater distributions on the rear wall.

Investigation into Damage of Aluminum Multi-Wall Shield under Hypervelocity Projectiles Impact

In order to study the hypervelocity impact of space debris on spacecraft through hypervelocity impact on aluminum alloy multi-wall structure, a two-stage light gas gun was used to launch 2017-T4 aluminum alloy sphere projectiles. The projectile diameters ranged from 2.74mm to 6.35mm and impact velocities ranged from 1.91km/s to 5.58km/s. Firstly, the advanced method of multi-wall shield resisting hypervelocity impacts from space debris was investigated, and the effect of amount and thickness of wall on shield performance was discussed. Finally, by regression analyzing of experiment data, the experience equations for forecasting the diameter of the penetration hole on the first wall and the diameter of the damaged area on the second wall of aluminum multi-wall shield under hypervelocity normal impact of Al-spheres were obtained. The results indicated that the performance of multi-wall shield with more amount of wall is excellent when area density is constant. At the same time, intensity of the first wall and protecting space play the important roles.

Investigation into Damage of Aluminum Gas-Filled Pressure Vessels under Hypervelocity Impact

Impacts of meteoroids and space debris on pressure vessels can have detrimental consequences for any mission. Depending on the parameters of the impacting particle and the characteristic of the vessel, the damages can range from relatively uncritical craters in the vessel’s surface to the catastrophic bursting of vessels, which besides the loss of vessel may result in severe secondary damages to surrounding components. In order to investigate failure mechanisms of thin-walled aluminum pressure vessels under hypervelocity impact of space debris, a non-powder two-stage light gas gun was used to launch Al-sphere projectiles impacting on unshielded and shielded vessels. Damage patterns and mechanisms leading to catastrophic rupture are discussed. Experimental results indicate that the impact kinetic energy of the projectile and the gas pressure in the vessel have an important effect on the damage modes of the vessel. On the one hand, high pressure gas can lead to a vessel blast. On the other hand, high pressure gas can mitigate the impact of the debris cloud on the rear wall of the vessel. Catastrophic rupture of unshielded gas-filled vessels can be avoided when the impact energy is less than a certain limit value. When the bumper is perforated, damage of shielded pressure vessel might be fatal for vessels with high gas pressure.