Numerical Simulation on the Damage Characteristics of Ice Targets by Projectile Hypervelocity Impact

Interpretation of cratering records on planetary surfaces including the Earth has primarily been concerned with rocky surfaces, most notably the lunar surface and more recently Mars and Venus. Recently, the survey of craters on icy surfaces in the Solar System has been augmented by data from spacecraft close encounters, such as the Galileo mission to the Jovian system. To fully understand these cratering records, the physics of hypervelocity impacts needs to be understood. The numerical simulation on the damage characteristics of ice targets by projectile normal hypervelocity impact has been performed using the hydro-code AUTODYN. The 1 mm spherical projectile is aluminum 2017 alloy. The targets are water ice. The simulation velocities were in the range of 1 km/s-10 km/s. The damage characteristics include peak ejection angle, maximum crater depth and diameter etc. The simulation results are given and compared with the experimental results of Shrine et al 2002. The simulation results are consistent with the experimental results.