Influence of jet thrust on penetrator penetration when studying the structure of space object blanket

Nauka i Obrazovanie

V. A. Veldanov¹  N. A. Fedorova¹  S. V. Fedorov¹  A. Yu. Daurskikh¹ 

[1] Bauman Moscow State Technical University;

关键词: high-velocity penetration;    soil target;    reactive impulse;    penetrator;   

DOI  :  10.7463/0214.0699035

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The article presents the calculation-and-theory-based research results to examine the possibility for using the jet thrust impulse to increase a penetration depth of high-velocity penetrator modules. Such devices can be used for studies of Earth surface layer composition, and in the nearest future for other Solar system bodies too. Research equipment (sensors and different instruments) is housed inside a metal body of the penetrator with a sharpened nose that decreases drag force in soil. It was assumed, that this penetrator is additionally equipped with the pulse jet engine, which is fired at a certain stage of penetrator motion into target.

The penetrator is considered as a rigid body of variable mass, which is subjected to drag force and reactive force applied at the moment the engine fires. A drag force was represented with a binomial empirical law, and penetrator nose part was considered to be conical. The jet thrust force was supposed to be constant during its application time. It was in accordance with assumption that mass flow and flow rate of solid propellant combustion products were constant. The amount of propellant in the penetrator was characterized by Tsiolkovsky number Z, which specifies the ratio between the fuel mass and the penetrator structure mass with no fuel.

The system of equations to describe the penetrator dynamics was given in dimensionless form using the values aligned with penetration of an equivalent inert penetrator as the time and penetration depth scales. Penetration dynamics of penetrator represented in this form allowed to eliminate the influence of penetrator initial mass and its cross-section diameter on the solution results. The lack of such dependency is convenient for comparing the calculation results since they hold for penetrators of various initial masses and cross-sections.

To calculate the penetration a lunar regolith was taken as a soil material. Calculations were carried out for initial velocities of interaction between the penetrator and the soil within the range of 250 and 1500 m/s with Tsiolkovsky number from 0.1 to 0.5. Obtained results show that there are optimal times when the jet thrust engine "switches on" and operates, thus providing a maximum increase in penetration depth. This time optimum is due to two competitive factors associated with the reactive projectile penetration. On the one hand, there is an additional reactive force that contributes to penetration depth increase. On the other one, due to fuel combustion, the penetrator mass decreases, thereby leading to its reduced penetration capability.

It was shown that a value of Tsiolkovsky number has a significant influence on the motion of penetrator using a jet engine. With raising Z, a penetration depth increases as well. At initial velocity of 500 m/s and optimal time parameters of reactive pulse, penetration depth increases almost by 40% for Z = 0,1, 90 % for Z = 0,25, and 2.5 times for Z = 0,5. As initial velocity of the penetrator grows, effectiveness of additional reactive acceleration significantly decreases. This is due to decreased relative portion of chemical energy of rocket propellant combustion as compared to the initial kinetic energy of penetrator with its reducing velocity.

A conclusion based on research results was drawn up that a penetrator module under examination equipped with the pulse jet engine is an efficient facility for the significant increase of penetration depth in low-strength soil targets. It was emphasized that the maximum increase in penetration depth was reached when a running jet engine makes the penetrator to move in the target rather than at its prestart (before coming in contact with the target).

【 授权许可】

Unknown