Test and numerical simulation of multilayer mesh bumper under hypervelocity impact

To study the performance of the shield configuration based on mesh bumper, hypervelocity impact test and numerical simulation were carried out on 4 types of aluminum mesh bumper. The target was a Whipple configuration. The bumper was a stack of one type meshes fixed by two square frames; the rear wall was a 2.5mm thickness aluminum plate. There were 4 types of aluminum meshes, mesh A(14x 14), mesh B(18x16), mesh C(24x24) and mesh D(30x30). Respectively, the wire diameters of the 4 types mesh were 0.38mm, 0.25mm, 0.25mm and 025mm. The areal densities of the 4 bumper were 0.123g/cm 2, 0.115g/cm 2, 0.115g/cm2 and 0.120g/cm 2. In the test, the projectile was aluminum sphere with diameter of 5mm and velocity ranged from 5.0km/s to 5.1km/s. Numerical simulation and test results shows that: the multilayer meshes that constructed by mesh D had the best ability in disrupting projectile and dispersing fragments. Copyright ©2010 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.