The protection of spacecraft has gained widespread attention in recent years. In previous studies, a large number of scholars have studied the characteristics of spherical projectile impacting the thin sheet at hypervelocity, however the threat of cylindrical projectile to the protective structure cannot be ignored. The purpose of this paper is to study the debris formation process and damage mechanism of cylindrical projectile impacting Whipple shield at hypervelocity. In order to study the damage characteristics of Whipple shield under the hypervelocity impact of cylindrical projectile, the experiments were conducted based on two-stage light gas gun (2SLGG) which the different diameters of 6061-T6 aluminum projectile impacting the Whipple shield. Many data were obtained through the experiments, such as the image of the impact process, the hole size of the front sheet, the velocity of the debris cloud, and the damage of the rear sheet. At the same time, the numerical simulations were carried out, and the accuracy of the numerical simulation was verified by comparing the results of the experiments and numerical simulations. The results show that length-diameter ratio (l/d) of projectile has a great influence on the components of the debris cloud and the damage of the rear sheet under the same projectile mass and velocity. Projectiles with larger l/d are less prone to fragmentation, because of the influence of strong shock wave and rarefaction wave is less. The damage to the front sheet is mainly perforation and shear, accompanied by a small amount of debris cloud, but there are more fragments of large size, and the energy is concentrated on the impact axis. On the contrary, the less l/d projectile tend to break up because of the stronger action of strong shock wave and rarefaction wave. The damage to the target sheet is mainly caused by the spall of the front sheet in the influence of strong shock waves, and the damage area is large. As the l/d of projectile increases from 0.3 to 6.5, the proportion of momentum dissipated along the impact direction upon completion of the front sheet impact decreases from 68.5 % to 15.7 %. The dimensionless diameter of the front sheet perforation region Df/d increases with the increase of the l/d of the projectile, and the dimensionless diameter of the rear sheet damage region Drs/d and Drm/d increases firstly and then tends to be unchanged. Correspondingly, as the l/d of projectile increases from 0.3 to 6.5, the Df/d increases from 0.94 to 1.34, representing an increase of 42.9 %.

Damage characteristics of Whipple shield impacted by cylindrical projectile

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发表日期：

2026年6月3日

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Xin Wei,
De-zhi Zhang,
Qi-feng Zhao,
Yu-rong Zhu,
Shu-shun Tan,
Ying-ju Shi,
Yang Zhang,
Wen-xiang Liu

摘要

The protection of spacecraft has gained widespread attention in recent years. In previous studies, a large number of scholars have studied the characteristics of spherical projectile impacting the thin sheet at hypervelocity, however the threat of cylindrical projectile to the protective structure cannot be ignored. The purpose of this paper is to study the debris formation process and damage mechanism of cylindrical projectile impacting Whipple shield at hypervelocity. In order to study the damage characteristics of Whipple shield under the hypervelocity impact of cylindrical projectile, the experiments were conducted based on two-stage light gas gun (2SLGG) which the different diameters of 6061-T6 aluminum projectile impacting the Whipple shield. Many data were obtained through the experiments, such as the image of the impact process, the hole size of the front sheet, the velocity of the debris cloud, and the damage of the rear sheet. At the same time, the numerical simulations were carried out, and the accuracy of the numerical simulation was verified by comparing the results of the experiments and numerical simulations. The results show that length-diameter ratio (l/d) of projectile has a great influence on the components of the debris cloud and the damage of the rear sheet under the same projectile mass and velocity. Projectiles with larger l/d are less prone to fragmentation, because of the influence of strong shock wave and rarefaction wave is less. The damage to the front sheet is mainly perforation and shear, accompanied by a small amount of debris cloud, but there are more fragments of large size, and the energy is concentrated on the impact axis. On the contrary, the less l/d projectile tend to break up because of the stronger action of strong shock wave and rarefaction wave. The damage to the target sheet is mainly caused by the spall of the front sheet in the influence of strong shock waves, and the damage area is large. As the l/d of projectile increases from 0.3 to 6.5, the proportion of momentum dissipated along the impact direction upon completion of the front sheet impact decreases from 68.5 % to 15.7 %. The dimensionless diameter of the front sheet perforation region D_f/d increases with the increase of the l/d of the projectile, and the dimensionless diameter of the rear sheet damage region D_rs/d and D_rm/d increases firstly and then tends to be unchanged. Correspondingly, as the l/d of projectile increases from 0.3 to 6.5, the D_f/d increases from 0.94 to 1.34, representing an increase of 42.9 %.