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Meteorite Material Model for Structural PropertiesTo assess the threat posed by an asteroid entering Earth's atmosphere, one must predict if, when, and how it fragments during entry. A comprehensive understanding of the asteroid material properties is needed to achieve this objective. At present, the meteorite material found on earth are the only objects from an entering asteroid that can be used as representative material and be tested inside a laboratory setting. Due to complex petrology, it is technically challenging and expensive to obtain reliable material properties by means of laboratory test for a family of meteorites. In order to circumvent this challenge, meteorite unit models are developed to determine the effective material properties including Youngs modulus, compressive and tensile strengths and Poissons ratio, that in turn would help deduce the properties of asteroids. The meteorite unit is a representative volume that accounts for diverse minerals, porosity, cracks and matrix composition. The Youngs Modulus and Poissons Ratio in the meteorite units are calculated by performing several hundreds of Monte-Carlo simulations by randomly distributing the various phases inside these units. Once these values are obtained, cracks are introduced in these meteorite units. The size, orientation and distribution of cracks are derived by extensive CT-scans and visual scans of various meteorites from the same family. Subsequently, simulations are performed to attain stress-strain relations, strength and effective modulus values in the presence of these cracks. The meteorite unit models are presented for H, L and LL ordinary chondrites, as well as for terrestrial basalt. In the case of the latter, data from the simulations is compared with experimental data to validate the methodology. These material models will be subsequently used in fragmentation modeling of full scale asteroids.
Document ID
20170011543
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Agrawal, Parul
(Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc. Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Carlozzi, Alexander A.
(Lockheed Martin Corp. Sunnyvale, CA, United States)
Karajeh, Zaid S.
(Universities Space Research Association Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Bryson, Kathryn L.
(Bay Area Environmental Research Inst. Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
December 6, 2017
Publication Date
October 15, 2017
Subject Category
Geophysics
Report/Patent Number
ARC-E-DAA-TN45086
Meeting Information
Meeting: Annual AAS Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting
Location: Provo, UT
Country: United States
Start Date: October 15, 2017
End Date: October 20, 2017
Sponsors: American Astronomical Society
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNA15BB15C
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX14AR61A
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX13AJ38A
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
Meteorite
model
material
structural properties
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