Evaluation of Impact Resistance of Satellite Structural Panels Subjected to Hypervelocity Impact by SPH-FEM Analysis

Abstract

In recent years, the number of space debris is increasing due to the increasing human space activities, and the risk of collisions between structures and debris is increasing. In a spacecraft, the outer wall protects the internal structure and the crew from debris impact, while in a satellite, the structural panels play a similar role. In general, honeycomb sandwich panels are used as satellite's structural panels, however, honeycomb sandwich panels are vulnerable to debris impact in the vertical direction. In this study, when the satellite's structural panels were subjected to hypervelocity impact of space debris, the impact resistance of the structural panels was evaluated using the three-dimensional SPH-FEM analysis. From the obtained results, it was found that it is effective to increase the cell size of the honeycomb core and diffuse the debris cloud in order to improve the impact resistance performance.