Open Access

ARTICLE

Numerical Investigation on Dynamical Response of Aluminum Foam Subject to Hypervelocity Impact With Material Point Method

Weiwei Gong, Yan Liu, Xiong Zhang, Honglei Ma

Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences 2012, 83(5), 527-546. https://doi.org/10.3970/cmes.2012.083.527

Abstract

Owing to its low density and good energy absorption capability, aluminum foam is an excellent protective material for spacecraft against debris impact. However, because of its complicated microstructure, it is very difficult to generate a FEM mesh accounting for the real microstructure of the alluminum foam. On the contrary, it is very easy to model three-dimensional problems with very complicated geometry with meshfree/meshless methods. Furthermore, the material point method has obvious advantages in modeling problems involving extreme large deformation problems like hypervelocity impact problem. In this paper, a three-dimensional material point model accounting for the real microsctructure of aluminum foam is created based on the scanned CT images, and is used to study the protective capacity of aluminum foam in different Whipple shield structures using our three-dimensional material point method code, MPM3D. The simulation results agree well with the experimental data.

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Keywords

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