Experimental and numerical study of hypervelocity impact damage on composite overwrapped pressure vessels

Ground-based tests are important for studying hypervelocity impact(HVI)damage to spacecraft pressure vessels in the orbital debris environment.We analyzed the damage to composite overwrapped pressure vessels(COPVs)in the HVI tests and classified the damage into non-catastrophic damage and catastrophic damage.We proposed a numerical simulation method to further study non-catastrophic damage and revealed the characteristics and mechanisms of non-catastrophic damage affected by impact conditions and internal pressures.The fragments of the catastrophically damaged COPVs were collected after the tests.The crack distribution and propagation process of the catastrophic ruptures of the COPVs were analyzed.Our findings contribute to understanding the damage characteristics and mechanisms of COPVs by HVIs.

Sensitivity analysis of spacecraft in micrometeoroids and orbital debris environment based on panel method

To reduce the risk of mission failure caused by the MM/OD impact of the spacecraft,it is necessary to optimize the design of the spacecraft.Spacecraft survivability assessment is the key technology in the optimal design of spacecraft.Spacecraft survivability assessment includes spacecraft impact sensitivity analysis and spacecraft component vulnerability analysis under MM/OD environment.The impact sensitivity refers to the probability of a spacecraft encountering an MM/OD impact while in orbit.Vulnerability refers to the probability that each component of a spacecraft may fail or malfunction when impacted by space debris.Yet this paper mainly analyzes the impact sensitivity and proposes a spacecraft sensitivity assessment method under the MM/OD environment based on a panel method.Under this panel method,a spacecraft geometric model is discretized into small panels,and whether they are impacted by MM/OD or not is determined through the analysis of the shielding or shadowing relationships between panels.The number of impacts on each panel is obtained through calculation,and accordingly the probability of each spacecraft component encountering MM/OD impact can be acquired,thus generating the impact sensibility.This paper extracts data from the NASA’s ORDEM2000,the ESA’s MASTER8 as well as the SDEEM2015(Space Debris Environmental Engineering Model developed by HIT),and uses the PCHIP(Piecewise Cubic Hermite Interpolating Polynomial)method to interpolate and fit the size-flux relationship of space debris.Compared with linear interpolation and cubic spline interpolation,the fitting results through the method are relatively more accurate.The feasibility of this method is also demonstrated through two actual examples shown in this paper,whose results are close to those from ESABASE,although there are some minor errors mainly due to different debris data input.Through the cross-check by three risk assessment software-BUMPER,MDPANTO and MODAOST-under standard operating conditions,the feasibility of this method is again verified.

Survivability assessment of spacecraft impacted by orbit debris

To help optimize the spacecraft design and reduce the risk of spacecraft mission failure, a new approach to assess the survivability of spacecraft in orbit is presented here, including the following three steps: 1)Sensitivity Analysis of spacecraft. A new sensitivity analysis method, a ray method based on virtual outer wall, is presented here. Using rays to simulate the debris cloud can effectively address the component shadowing issues. 2) Component Vulnerability analysis of spacecraft. A function "Component functional reduction degree-Component physical damage degree" is provided here to clearly describe the component functional reduction. 3) System-level Survivability Assessment of spacecraft. A new method based on expert knowledge reasoning, instead of traditional artificial failure tree method, is presented here to greatly improve the efficiency and accuracy of calculation.