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An algorithm is outlined for simulating the contact surface erosion for impact problems. The algorithm dynamically relocates the contact surface as projectile and target materials exceed their failure criterion. Example computations of axisymmetric and oblique impacts are compared with experimental data.
It is estimated that 30 to 200 large impact basins could have been formed on the early Earth. These large impacts may have resulted in extensive volcanism and enhanced endogenic geologic activity over large areas. Initial modelling of the thermal and subsidence history of large terrestrial basins indicates that they created geologic and thermal anomalies which lasted for geologically significant times. The role of large-scale impact in the biological evolution of the Earth has been highlighted by the discovery of siderophile anomalies at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary and associated with North American microtektites. Although in neither case has an associated crater been identified, the observations are consistent with the deposition of projectile-contaminated high-speed ejecta from major impact events. Consideration of impact processes reveals a number of mechanisms by which large-scale impact may induce extinctions.
All theories of lunar origin involve events or processes which seemingly have low efficiencies or low probabilities or both. An impact-triggered fission lunar origin is presented. If the impact ejecta (a mixture of target and projectile) leave the impact site ballistically and are subsequently acted upon only by the gravity field of a spherical Earth, then the ejecta either reimpacts the Earth or escapes on a hyperbolic trajectory. Hence the need for a second burn. Three possible resolutions are considered: pressure gradient acceleration, non-central gravity, and viscous spreading.
The aerodnamic characteristics for several bodies of revolution have been determined from wind tunnel tests at Mach numbers from 1.6 to 4.63. Six bodies, each having a length-to-diameter ratio of 6.67, were investigated. Geometric modifications included forebody shape, afterbody shape, and midsection slope. Significant aerodynamic changes were observed to be functions of geometric change and Mach number. Because of the aerodynamic dependence on geometry as well as Mach number, it is obvious that a number of trades must be considered in selecting a projectile shape.
Methods to describe the charge-to-mass dispersion distributions of projectile prefragments are presented and used to determine individual isotope cross-sections or various elements produced in the fragmentation of relativistic argon nuclei by carbon targets. Although slight improvements in predicted cross-sections are obtained for the quantum mechanical giant dipole resonance (GDR) distribution when compared qith the predictions of the geometric GDR model, the closest agreement between theory and experiment continues to be obtained with the simple hypergeometric distribution, which treats the nucleons in the nucleus as completely uncorrelated.
Two distinct episodes of impacting are recorded on the Moon's surface. An early episode marked by an intense barrage that included basin-forming projectiles ended about 3.8 aeons ago when the Orientale basin was created. The second episode, after 3.2 or 3.3 aeons ago, was marked by a much lower impact rate. These very different rates are separated by a short transition period during the Late Imbrian Epoch. It is found that a constant preImbrian impact rate is consistent with all the relevant observations and with the following lunar historical scenario: (1) crustal solidification between about 4.3 and 4.25 aeons ago; (2) formation of Procellarum, South Pole-Aitken, about 22 now-obliterated basins, and about 2,850 now-obliterated 30 to 300 km craters between 4.25 and 4.1 aeons ago; and (3) formation of 39 still-preserved basins, 1,200 still-perserved craters, and 2,200 now-obliterated craters between 4.1 and 3.85 aeons ago. At the constant rate, the amount of mass that impacted the Moon since crustal solidification would not greatly exceed the amount that has left a permanent visible record.
Shock-wave data are presented for liquid helium which has been compressed to densities up to five times greater than the normal liquid. The helium was heated to temperatures up to 21,000 K, while the maximum pressure attained was 56 GPa. The properties of helium and hydrogen are important for modeling the giant planets Saturn and Jupiter where these elements are the major constituents. Conditions on Saturn are of particular interest because studies have suggested that this planet has an internal energy source which is associated with unmixing and gravitational separation the hydrogen-helium fluid at pressures below 1 TPa. The existence of this phase transition depends very sensitively on the hydrogen and helium equation of state. In the experiments, strong shock waves were generated by the impact of planar projectiles into cryogenic specimen holders.
Problems which have arisen in formulating a mutually consistent picture of Mercury's evolution are outlined. It appears that one or more of the following widely adopted assumptions are wrong about Mercury: (1) its original composition at least approximately resulted from equilibrium condensation; (2) its magnetic field arises from a still-active dynamo; (3) its thermal evolution should have yielded early core formation followed by cooling and a global contraction approaching 20 km in the planet's radius; (4) Mercury's surface is basaltic and the intercrater plains are of volcanic origin. It is suggested that Mercury's role in comparative planetology be reevaluated in the context of an alternative timescale based on the possibility that Mercury was subjected to a continuing source of cratering projectiles over recent aeons, which have not impacted the other terrestrial planets. Although such vulcanoids have not yet been discovered, the evolution of Mercury's orbit due to secular perturbations could well have led to a prolonged period of sweeping out any intra-Mercurian planetesimals that were originally present. Mercury's surface could be younger than previously believed, which explains why Mercury's core is still molten.
The possibility is investigated that the reported excess low energy antiproton component of the cosmic radiation results from proton-proton (p-p) interactions in relativistic plasmas. Because of both target and projectile motion in such plasmas, the antiproton production threshold in the frame of the plasma is much lower than the threshold of antiproton production in cosmic ray interactions with ambient matter. The spectrum of the resultant antiprotons therefore extends to much lower energy than in the cosmic ray case. The antiproton spectrum is calculated for relativistic thermal plasmas and the spectrum is estimated for relativistic nonthermal plasmas. As possible production sites, matter accreting onto compact objects located in the galaxy is considered. Possible overproduction of gamma rays from associated neutral pion production can be avoided if the site is optically thick to the photons but not to the antiprotons. A possible scenario involves a sufficiently large photon density that the neutral pion gamma rays are absorbed by photon-photon pair production. Escape of the antiprotons to the interstellar medium can be mediated by antineutron production.
The present paper describes a numerical mesh generation technique to be used with an implicit finite difference method for simulating visous supersonic flow about low-aspect-ratio wing body configurations using a single grid strategy. The computational domain is segmented into multiple regions, with borders located in supersonic areas to avoid the otherwise costly interfacing procedure between adjacent segments. The numerical procedure is applied to calculate the turbulent flow around the shuttle orbiter and a canard projectile at supersonic free stream Mach number.
The study of charge changing cross sections of fast ions colliding with matter provides the fundamental basis for the analysis of the charge states produced in such interactions. Given the high degree of complexity of the phenomena, there is no theoretical treatment able to give a comprehensive description. In fact, the involved processes are very dependent on the basic parameters of the projectile, such as velocity charge state, and atomic number, and on the target parameters, the physical state (molecular, atomic or ionized matter) and density. The target velocity, may have also incidence on the process, through the temperature of the traversed medium. In addition, multiple electron transfer in single collisions intrincates more the phenomena. Though, in simplified cases, such as protons moving through atomic hydrogen, considerable agreement has been obtained between theory and experiments However, in general the available theoretical approaches have only limited validity in restricted regions of the basic parameters. Since most measurements of charge changing cross sections are performed in atomic matter at ambient temperature, models are commonly based on the assumption of targets at rest, however at Astrophysical scales, temperature displays a wide range in atomic and ionized matter. Therefore, due to the lack of experimental data , an attempt is made here to quantify temperature dependent cross sections on basis to somewhat arbitrary, but physically reasonable assumptions.
The conditions for establishment of charge transfer during acceleration of nuclei up to Fe, for typical conditions of solar flare regions T = 5 x 10 to the 3rd power to 2.5 x 10 to the 8th power degrees K were explored. Results show that such conditions are widely assorted, depending on the acceleration mechanism, the kind of projections and their velocity, the target elements, the source temperature and consequently on the degree of ionization of matter and the local charge state of the accelerated ions. Nevertheless, in spite of that assorted behavior, there are some general tendencies that can be summarized as follows. In atomic H electron capture is systematically established from thermal energies up to high energies, whatever the element and for both acceleration process. For a given element and fixed temperature (T), the probability and energy domain of electron capture and loss with Fermi are higher than with Betatron acceleration. For a given acceleration process the heavier the ion the higher the probability and the wider the energy range for electron capture and loss. For given acceleration mechanism and fixed element the importance and energy domain of capture and loss increase with T: for those reasons, the energy range of charge equilibrium (illustrated with solid lines on the next figs.) is wider with Fermi and increases with temperature and atomic number of projectiles. For the same reasons, electron loss is smaller while the lighter the element, the lower the temperature and the Betatron process, such that there are conditions for which electron loss is not allowed at low energies, but only electron capture is established.
The LS (laboratory system) emission angles theta for 2188 and 298 Li fragments, produced inclusively in relativistic Fe-C and Fe-Pb collisions, have been measured in reference to incident Fe-ion beam tracks nearby in nuclear emulsion. An empirical differential frequency formula, dN(cot theta) = exp (a + b cot theta)d(cot theta) is obtained with the constant b approx. = -0.026 at 1.88 GeV/u, which seems to be independent on the kinds of target nucleus as well as on the kinds of projectile fragments.
The communication of blocky planetary surfaces into fine-grained regoliths was simulated by impacting a fragmental gabbro target 200 times with stainless steel projectiles. It is found that the comminution efficiency of the surfaces changes with time, being highest in the early stages of regolith formation and decreasing gradually. The relationship between mean grain size and cumulative energy is not linear. Individual, fine-grained regolith components can be generated very early from relatively large progenitor fragments without going through intermediate-size fractions. Impact comminution is capable of producing fractionated fines as postulated by Papike et al. (1982). The role of grain-size selective, lateral transport to explain the fractionated nature of lunar regolith fines may have been overestimated in the past.
A spin, isotopic-spin formalism for the production of pions due to decays of isobar giant resonances formed in peripheral heavy-ion collisions is presented. The projectile nucleus isobar giant resonance state is assumed to coherently form and then incoherently decay to produce the pions. Total spin and isotopic spin for the system are conserved through the concomitant excitation of the target nucleus to an isobaric analog giant resonance state. Comparisons of the predicted total pion cross sections, over a range of energies, are made with heavy-ion pion data.
Ir-bearing particles have been recovered from two piston cores in the Antarctic Basin in the southeastern Pacific. In core E13-3, the particles closely correspond to the Late Pliocene Ir anomaly and have a fluence of about 100 mg/cm sq. In core E13-4, 120 km to the southwest, the particle fluence is about 4 mg/cm sq. Particles with diameters from 0.5 to 4 mm contain at least 35 percent of the Ir in this horizon. Three types of particles have been identified: (1) vesicular, (2) basaltic, and (3) metal. The vesicular particles appear to be shock-melted debris derived from the oceanic impact of a howarditic asteroid containing a minor metal component. These particles have recrystallized from a melt and impact into the ocean has resulted in the incorporation of Na, K, Cl, and radiogenic Sr from the ocean water target. The basaltic clasts appear to be unmelted fragments of the original asteroid which may have separated from the main body prior to impact. Combined vesicular and basaltic particles are believed to have formed by collisions in the debris cloud. Estimates of the diameter of the projectile range from 100 to 500 m. By many orders of magnitude, this is the most massive achondrite sampled by a single meteorite fall.
An evaluation is made of six diverse examples of nonlinear treatments of slender body theory for the prediction of missile aerodynamic behavior. The cases in question are the application of area rule to store carriage design in the drag rise region, the estimation of destabilizing pitching moments associated with transonic projectiles, the pressure loadings on elliptical missile airframes, nonlinear control characteristics, roll control effectiveness in canard missile configurations, and novel approaches for vortex flow modeling.
Heavy particle, electron, and UV photon bombardment of solid surfaces has been recently observed to result in the emission of infrared, visible, and ultraviolet radiation. This effect occurs over a wide range of incident projectile energies. Line radiation arising from transitions between discrete atomic or molecular levels may be attributed to the decay of excited particles which have been sputtered or electronically/chemically desorbed from the surface. Broadband continuum radiation, which is also observed, is believed to arise either from fluorescence of the near surface bulk or from the radiative decay of desorbed excited clusters. Spacecraft, in the ambient near Earth environment, are subject to such bombardment. The dynamics of energetic particle and photon beam interactions with surfaces which lead to surface erosion and glow phenomena will be treated. In addition, projected experimental and theoretical studies of oxygen and nitrogen beam surface interactions on materials characteristic of spacecraft surfaces will be discussed.