Ballistic performance of porous-ceramic, thermal protection systems

Abstract

Abstract. Porous-ceramic, thermal protection systems are used heavily in current reentry vehicles like the Orbiter, and they are currently being proposed for the next generation of US manned spacecraft, Orion. These systems insulate reentry critical components of a spacecraft against the intense thermal environments of atmospheric reentry. Additionally, these materials are highly exposed to space environment hazards like solid particle impacts. This paper discusses impact studies up to 10 km/s on 8 lb/ft 3 alumina-fiber-enhanced-thermal-barrier (AETB8) tiles coated with a toughened-unipiece-fibrousinsulation/reaction-cured-glass layer (TUFI/RCG). A semi-empirical, first principles impact model that describes projectile dispersion is described that provides excellent agreement with observations over a broad range of impact velocities, obliquities and projectile materials. Model extensions to look at the implications of greater than 10 GPa equation of state is also discussed. Predicted penetration probabilities for a vehicle visiting the International Space Station is 60% lower for orbital debris and 95% lower for meteoroids with this model compared to an energy scaled approach.

Optimization of the heat flow by solving inverse problem in the protective layer of the TPS panel

“…The first of the two problems is discussed in literature concentrating on the insulation itself, its thermal loads and the influence of damage on the load endurance (Miller and Bohl, 2012;Ng, 2007). There are results of experimental research that show how the insulation heats up Optimization of the heat flow in different gas environments (Daryabeigi et al, 2011) and how it can be used in spaceflights (Kazemba et al, 2011).…”