Numerical Simulation of Craters Produced by Projectile Hypervelocity Impact on Aluminum Targets

All spacecrafts in low orbit are subject to hypervelocity impacts by meteoroids and space debris. These impacts can damage spacecraft flight-critical systems, which can in turn lead to catastrophic failure of the spacecraft. In order to ensure the astronauts safety and spacecraft normal operation, the design of meteoroids and space debris protection configuration become an important problem of spacecraft design. The numerical simulation of craters produced by projectile hypervelocity impact on aluminum targets at normal and oblique angles have been carried out using the AUTODYN hydro-codes in this paper. The results using two and three-dimensional simulations are given. The effect of projectile density, shapes, target thickness, projectile diameter, impact velocity and angles etc. on crater has been investigated. The simulation results are compared with experimental results, and the simulated crater shapes and characteristic sizes are consistent very well with experimental results. The validation of numerical simulation method has been verified.