Hypervelocity impact on ceramic composite shields: Modelling strategies and damage propagation

Recent advancements in space exploration have led to a significant increase in space debris, which in turn has heightened the threat of Hypervelocity Impacts (HVI) on space structures. Micro-Meteoroid and Orbital Debris (MMOD) poses a severe risk of catastrophic damage, necessitating the development of efficient passive protection measures. This study analyses damage propagation within impedance-graded ceramic composite shields using adaptive coupled Finite Element Method-Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (FEM-SPH) modelling strategies. The numerical results for monolithic AA2024 aluminium (Al) targets and niobium carbide (NbC)/Al composite targets closely align with experimental data from existing literature. The performance of ceramic target configurations that incorporate NbC, silicon carbide (SiC), and boron carbide (B4C) is analysed based on projectile kinetic energy, pressure profiles and fragmentation behaviour. These configurations are compared against a baseline target configuration to optimise the results. Weighted impedance-graded targets consisting of NbC/SiC/B4C/Al with respective thicknesses of 0.29 mm, 0.6 mm, 0.9 mm and 2 mm exhibited the lowest projectile kinetic energy with a reduction of 29.5% in kinetic energy compared with the Al solution. This improved performance is attributed to a high peak pressure and extended pulse duration in the projectile, and elevated internal energy in the ceramic layers, demonstrating its potential for improved hypervelocity impact protection.