Thermostructural design of a carbon-carbon heatshield for a Jovian entry

The thermostructural response of three candidate carbon-carbon composites for the Jovian entry probe heatshield was investigated. The analysis for the three materials, Sandia Felt, Carbitex 700, and SAI 4-D weave carbon-carbon was conducted using a dual finite element approach which involved heat conduction as well as the structural response. A receding boundary due to ablation and inertial loads encountered by the probe were included. Severe cracking, circumferential and radial, and interlaminar shear failure was observed during the radiative heating pulse for the Sandia Felt and Carbitex 700 materials, respectively. The 4-D weave material showed no failures over the entire entry.