Investigation of Material Surface Erosion and Failure due to High-Velocity Particle Impact

The NASA Kentucky EPSCoR Program’s mission is to enhance the research and intellectual capacity of the state’s universities and colleges through strategic investments in NASA-priority research areas and to increase researcher competitiveness for non-EPSCoR NASA funding. To that end, this project aims to significantly expand the modeling capability of the Kentucky Aerothermodynamic and Thermal-response System (KATS) by coupling with solid solver based on a novel nonlocal meshfree Lattice Particle Method (LPM) to investigate material surface erosion and failure due to high-velocity particle impact relevant to NASA missions. Understanding and being able to accurately predict materials surface erosion and failure due to high-velocity particle impact is relevant for NASA current and future missions. In the case of planetary entry application, the thermal protection system (TPS) materials are susceptible to impact by hypervelocity particles such as dust particles suspended in the Martian atmosphere during Mars landing and sample return. Accurate assessment of surface erosion is necessary to avoid over-design of the TPS. In the case of spaceflight application, spacecraft are subject to micro-meteoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) impact damage which have the potential to degrade performance, shorten the mission, or result in catastrophic loss of the vehicle. Material surface erosion due to high-velocity impact is also relevant to the aerospace propulsion engine applications. When operating in dust-laden environments, engine components are impacted by solid erosive particles entrained in the gas flow, which results in significant material removal that can lead to deleterious effects in engine performance. All these must be carefully studied to support NASA missions. The overarching goal of the project is investigation of materials surface erosion and failure due to high-velocity particle impact related to NASA applications including TPS, spaceflight and next-generation aerospace propulsion engine applications. To achieve this goal, a set of multiscale multiphysics computational tools capable of modeling materials pervasive failure with coupled flow effects will be developed based on LPM and KATS. High-velocity impact tests will be conducted to provide data for validation of the developed computational tools. The investigation will provide fundamental insights on the nature of material surface erosion and failure due to high-velocity particle impact. The tools developed and the knowledge gained in this project will be useful for capsule and vehicle performance modeling and simulation and materials design for TPS and aerospace propulsion engines for NASA current and future missions. As a university program, this project will also train and prepare the next generation of aerospace scientists and engineers.

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