Modeling and Damage/Failure Control of Spacecraft Pressurized Structures Subject to Orbital Debris Impact

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The hazard from orbital debris is a growing international concern for the safety and reliability of space-based infrastructure - even small particles can damage, degrade, or destroy spacecraft due to the very high velocities involved in a collision, on the average about 11 km/sec . The number of man-made objects in Earth orbit has increased steadily, and it has become a lot more crucial to get a handle on the subject over the past four years because of the series of incidents happened in 2007-2009. Today the Space Surveillance Network is tracking more than 19,000 objects approximately 10 centimeters in diameter or larger. It is estimated that there are over 300,000 untrackable objects with a diameter larger than one centimeter, and millions smaller [2]. Shielding is a most traditional method of protection of spacecraft developed for a mission into space debris environment. Conceptually it consists of a bumper that is placed at a small distance away from the pressure wall. The case of both shield and pressurized wall perforation presents a potential for the spacecraft failure. The proposed research program will be focused on the structural integrity of the shielded low-pressure spacecraft pressurized modules and partially on the gas-filled pressure vessels for onboard spacecraft systems with high internal pressure. The applicant will simulate the process of penetration of the multi-layered protective system and cracking phenomena associated with the formation of the impact damage on the reinforced pressure wall. The proposed simulation procedure and software will serve as a tool to forecast the response of structure and enable the designer to develop the "structure+shield" configurations which provide "simple perforation" conditions without bursting in cases where the shield and reinforced vessel wall are perforated.