Shock Initiation of a Satellite Tank under Debris Hypervelocity Impact

Abstract

For the risk assessment of a satellite to determine whether the satellite tank explodes under the hypervelocity impact, the Walker−Wasley criterion is selected to predict the shock initiation of the satellite tank. Then, the minimum power density of liquid hydrazine is determined based on the tests, the expressions of shock wave pressure and pressure duration are constructed based on the one-dimensional wave theory, and the initiation criterion for the liquid hydrazine tank is established. Finally, numerical simulation and the initiation criterion are adopted to calculate the power density in the satellite tank under the debris impact at the velocity of 10 km/s. The calculated power density agrees well with the simulated power density, they are both larger than the minimum power density, demonstrating that the shock wave generated by the hypervelocity impact is sufficient to trigger an explosion in the satellite tank.

Keywords

• shock initiation
• satellite tank
• debris
• hypervelocity impact
• numerical simulation