Jetting and shock wave during oblique hypervelocity impact of spherical projectile

Abstract Space debris impacts on whipped shields are dominantly non-vertical. Shock initiation and interaction govern the fragmentation of projectiles and plates, directly determining the features of the produced debris cloud. During the initial impact stage of a projectile on a target, wave propagation and evolution occur in their interior with co-dominant material fragmentation. In this study, the effects of the impact conditions (impact velocity and attack angle) on the critical conditions for jet generation were examined based on the asymmetric jetting theory. In the Geometric Propagation Model (GPM), the effect of the attack angle was considered, and a wave front deflection angle parameter was introduced. The modified GPM could describe the geometric features and position of a wave front during an oblique impact. Combined with smoothed particle hydrodynamics numerical simulations, the interior of projectiles, fragmentation features, and pressure attenuation were studied. It was found that in large attack angle cases, the projectile material is more likely to reach the critical conditions for jet generation, and the jet mass proportion of the projectile material increases with increasing attack angle. The modified GPM is an oblique elliptic Eq. that is a function of the equivalent speed, impact velocity, attack angle, time, and deflection angle. It may be applicable to hypervelocity events involving any monolithic material as long as the equivalent speed and deflection angle can be provided from numerical simulations. The impact conditions exhibit a quantitative relationship with the pressure attenuation in a projectile, among which the impact velocity has a more significant effect. This study established a quantitative analysis method for initial impact stage of the oblique hypervelocity impact of a spherical projectile on a flat plate.