Characteristics of debris cloud structure of bidirectional corrugated sandwich panel under hypervelocity impact

In recent years, the surge in the number of spacecraft has led to a significant increase in space debris, posing a substantial threat to spacecraft in orbit. Corrugated sandwich panels are considered an effective protective structure. Current numerical simulation studies primarily focus on unidirectional corrugated sandwich panels impacted by space debris, and the method mainly used for numerical simulation is the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). Building on this foundation, this paper proposes the concept of using bidirectional corrugated sandwich panels as protective structures for spacecraft. Taking the hypervelocity impact (HVI) of an aluminum alloy spherical projectile on an aluminum alloy bidirectional corrugated sandwich panel as the research subject, numerical simulations were performed using the finite element-smoothed particle hydrodynamics (FE-SPH) adaptive method. The formation and development process of the debris cloud was presented, revealing an overall cellular structure within the debris cloud. The formation mechanisms of its unique structural features were analyzed. Numerical simulations with varying impact points were further performed to investigate the influence of impact points on debris cloud morphology. Additionally, the interaction between the debris cloud and the rear wall was simulated, with the damage process and morphology of the rear wall analyzed in detail. Comparisons with results from unidirectional corrugated sandwich panels demonstrated that the bidirectional corrugated sandwich panel exhibits more stable protective performance.