Mitigating Deep Dielectric Charging Effects at the Orbits of Jovian Planets

Deep dielectric charging/discharging,caused by high energy electrons,is an important consideration in electronic devices used in space environments because it can lead to spacecraft anomalies and failures.The Jovian planets,including Saturn,Uranus,Neptune and Jupiter’s moons,are believed to have robust electron radiation belts at relativistic energies.In particular,Jupiter is thought to have caused at least 42 internal electrostatic discharge events during the Voyager 1 flyby.With the development of deep space exploration,there is an increased focus on the deep dielectric charging effects in the orbits of Jovian planets.In this paper,GEANT4,a Monte Carlo toolkit,and radiation-induced conductivity(RIC)are used to calculate deep dielectric charging effects for Jovian planets.The results are compared with the criteria for preventing deep dielectric charging effects in Earth orbit.The findings show that effective criteria used in Earth orbit are not always appropriate for preventing deep dielectric charging effects in Jovian orbits.Generally,Io,Europa,Saturn(R_S=6),Uranus(L=4.73)and Ganymede missions should have a thicker shield or higher dielectric conductivity,while Neptune(L=7.4)and Callisto missions can have a thinner shield thickness or a lower dielectric conductivity.Moreover,dielectrics grounded with double metal layers and thinner dielectrics can also decrease the likelihood of discharges.

The Effects of Seamounts on Sound Propagation in Deep Water

A propagation experiment was conducted in the South China Sea in 2014 with a flat bottom and seamounts respectively by using explosive sources. The effects of seamounts on sound propagation are analyzed by using the broadband signals. It is observed that the transmission loss （TL） decreases up to 7 dB for the signals in the first shadow zone due to the seamount reflection. Moreover, the TL might increase more than 30 dB in the converge zone due to the shadowing by seamounts. Abnormal TLs and pulse arrival structures at different ranges are explained by using the ray and wave theory. The experimental TLs and arrival pulses are compared with the numerical results and found to be in good agreement.

Mechanical behavior of deep sandstone under high stress-seepage coupling

The mechanical behavior evolution characteristics of sandstone are important to the application and practice of rock engineering.Therefore,a new method and concept of deep rock mechanics testing are proposed to reveal the mechanical behavior evolution mechanism of deep roadway surrounding rock after excavation with a depth over 1000 m.High stress-seepage coupling experiments of deep sandstone under various confining pressures are conducted using GCTS.Stress−strain and permeability curves are obtained.The three-stage mechanical behavior of deep sandstone is better characterized.A platform and secondary compaction phenomena are observed.With the confining pressure increasing,the platform length gradually decreases,even disappears.In the stade I,the rigid effect of deep sandstone is remarkable.In the stage II,radial deformation of deep sandstone dominates.The transient strain of confining pressure compliance is defined,which shows three-stage evolution characteristics.In the stage III,the radial deformation is greater than the axial deformation in the pre-peak stage,but the opposite trend is observed in the post-peak stage.It is found that the dynamic permeability can be more accurately characterized by the radial strain.The relations between the permeability and stress−strain curves in various stages are revealed.

Analysis of mechanical behavior of soft rocks and stability control in deep tunnels

Due to the weakness in mechanical properties of chlorite schist and the high in situ stress in Jinping II hydropower station, the rock mass surrounding the diversion tunnels located in chlorite schist was observed with extremely large deformations. This may significantly increase the risk of tunnel instability during excavation. In order to assess the stability of the diversion tunnels laboratory tests were carried out in association with the petrophysical properties, mechanical behaviors and waterlweakening properties of chlorite schist. The continuous deformation of surrounding rock mass, the destruction of the support structure and a large-scale collapse induced by the weak chlorite schist and high in situ stress were analyzed. The distributions of compressive deformation in the excavation zone with large deformations were also studied. In this regard, two reinforcement schemes for the excavation of diversion tunnel bottom section were proposed accordingly. This study could offer theoretical basis for deed tunnel construction in similar geological condition~

Deformation failure and countermeasures of deep tertiary extremely soft rock roadway in Liuhai coal mine

In view of failure phenomena with nonlinear large deformation including extensive damage,whole section destruction in short time,high rate of repair,most destruction forms occurred in the tertiary roadway of soft rocks engineering in Liuhai mine,according to the methods of geological survey,theoretical analysis,numerical calculation and in-situ test,the composite failure mechanism of molecular expansion,tectonic stress,gravity stress and engineering deviatoric stress,faults and random joint in this area is analyzed deeply,then an coupling support of double-layer-truss is proposed.The research results show that the first wave of deformation energy was released by bolt-mesh-cable fixed into the roof,floor and two sides of the roadway.While the second wave of deformation energy was released through the interface function between double-layer-truss and the surrounding rock.The double-layer-truss that characterized by high strength,good integrity can absorb high deformation energy of surrounding rocks,which led to the uniform distribution of the stress.Engineering practice shows this technology has been successfully applied to control the deformation failure of the tertiary extremely soft rock roadway.

Analysis of the internal charging data in medium earth orbit with numerical simulation and ground experiment

The deep dielectric charging effect monitor(DDCEM)has been designed to study the internal charging effect by measuring the charging currents and potentials inside the spacecraft.It is equipped on three Chinese navigation satellites in a circular medium earth orbit(MEO)with 22000 km average height and 55°inclinations.Numerical simulation based on the Geant4-RIC method was used to evaluate the data of DDCEM.The data during May to November 2019 on one of the three satellites show that the charging currents of DDCEM were negatively enhanced when the satellite moved into the outer radiation belt.The currents reached the negative maximum during a significant electron enhancement in September 2019.Positive currents were also detected besides negative currents that were caused by the deposition of electrons in the sensor.The causation of positive currents in the space environment may be that the low-energy electrons cannot penetrate the satellite skin and make it charging to negative potential,the reference ground of DDCEM that is connected to the satellite skin drops below zero by the low-energy electrons so that the output currents turn to positive.Ground experiment was used to simulate the causation of positive currents and the result verified our theory.