Numerical simulation of complex damage behaviour of advanced aerospace structures subject to hypervelocity impact

Numerical investigations into the complexities of hypervelocity impacts onto advanced aerospace structures provide an accurate description of the damage evolution and propagation through impacted structures. The accurate prediction of the dynamic behaviour and damage response upon hypervelocity impacts in microgravity enable an in-depth understanding of damage patterns in partially and fully damaged space structures. Numerical simulations using explicit finite elements codes were conducted to demonstrate the ability of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics to model the extent of damage and crater formation characteristics due to hypervelocity impacts on the rear wall of Aluminium multilayer shielding configuration. Close agreement was established between the numerical simulations and sourced experimental data, which show the effect of projectile density, impact velocity and spacing distance on the material degradation and debris plume.