Search

The Experimental Projectile Impact Chamber (EPIC) is a specially designed facility for the study of processes related to wet-target (e.g., “marine”) impacts. It consists of a 7 m wide, funnel-shaped test bed, and a 20.5 mm caliber compressed N2 gas gun. The target can be unconsolidated or liquid. The gas gun can launch 20 mm projectiles of various solid materials under ambient atmospheric pressure and at various angles from the horizontal. To test the functionality and quality of obtained results by EPIC, impacts were performed into dry beach sand targets with two different projectile materials; ceramic Al2O3 (max. velocity 290 m s−1) and Delrin (max. velocity 410 m s−1); 23 shots used a quarter-space setting (19 normal, 4 at 53° from horizontal) and 14 were in a half-space setting (13 normal, 1 at 53°). The experiments were compared with numerical simulations using the iSALE code. Differences were seen between the nondisruptive Al2O3 (ceramic) and the disruptive Delrin (polymer) projectiles in transient crater development. All final crater dimensions, when plotted in scaled form, agree reasonably well with the results of other studies of impacts into granular materials. We also successfully validated numerical models of vertical and oblique impacts in sand against the experimental results, as well as demonstrated that the EPIC quarter-space experiments are a reasonable approximation for half-space experiments. Altogether, the combined evaluation of experiments and numerical simulations support the usefulness of the EPIC in impact cratering studies.

[1] Elliptical impact craters are rare among the generally symmetric shape of impact structures on planetary surfaces. Nevertheless, a better understanding of the formation of these craters may significantly contribute to our overall understanding of hypervelocity impact cratering. The existence of elliptical craters raises a number of questions: Why do some impacts result in a circular crater whereas others form elliptical shapes? What conditions promote the formation of elliptical craters? How does the formation of elliptical craters differ from those of circular craters? Is the formation process comparable to those of elliptical craters formed at subsonic speeds? How does crater formation work at the transition from circular to elliptical craters? By conducting more than 800 three-dimensional (3-D) hydrocode simulations, we have investigated these questions in a quantitative manner. We show that the threshold angle for elliptical crater generation depends on cratering efficiency. We have analyzed and quantified the influence of projectile size and material strength (cohesion and coefficient of internal friction) independently from each other. We show that elliptical craters are formed by shock-induced excavation, the same process that forms circular craters and reveal that the transition from circular to elliptical craters is characterized by the dominance of two processes: A directed and momentum-controlled energy transfer in the beginning and a subsequent symmetric, nearly instantaneous energy release.

Impact craters are elliptical in planform if the impactor's trajectory is below a threshold angle of incidence. Laboratory experiments and 3D numerical simulations demonstrate that this threshold angle decreases as the ratio of crater size to impactor size increases. According to impact cratering scaling laws, this implies that elliptical craters occur at steeper impact angles as crater size or target strength increases. Using a standard size-frequency distribution for asteroids impacting the terrestrial planets we estimate the fraction of elliptical craters as a function of crater size on the Moon, Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury. In general, the expected fraction of elliptical craters is ~ 2–4% for craters between 5 and 100-km in diameter, consistent with the observed population of elliptical craters on Mars. At larger crater sizes both our model and observations suggest a dramatic increase in the fraction of elliptical craters with increasing crater diameter. The observed fraction of elliptical craters larger than 100-km diameter is significantly greater than our model predictions, which may suggest that there is an additional source of large elliptical craters other than oblique impact.

– The majority of meteorite impacts occur at oblique incidence angles. However, many of the effects of obliquity on impact crater size and morphology are poorly understood. Laboratory experiments and numerical models have shown that crater size decreases with impact angle, the along-range crater profile becomes asymmetric at low incidence angles, and below a certain threshold angle the crater planform becomes elliptical. Experimental results at approximately constant impact velocity suggest that the elliptical threshold angle depends on target material properties. Herein, we test the hypothesis that the threshold for oblique crater asymmetry depends on target material strength. Three-dimensional numerical modeling offers a unique opportunity to study the individual effects of both impact angle and target strength; however, a systematic study of these two parameters has not previously been performed. In this work, the three-dimensional shock physics code iSALE-3D is validated against laboratory experiments of impacts into a strong, ductile target material. Digital elevation models of craters formed in laboratory experiments were created from stereo pairs of scanning electron microscope images, allowing the size and morphology to be directly compared with the iSALE-3D craters. The simulated craters show excellent agreement with both the crater size and morphology of the laboratory experiments. iSALE-3D is also used to investigate the effect of target strength on oblique incidence impact cratering. We find that the elliptical threshold angle decreases with decreasing target strength, and hence with increasing cratering efficiency. Our simulations of impacts on ductile targets also support the prediction from Chapman and McKinnon (1986) that cratering efficiency depends on only the vertical component of the velocity vector.

Almost every meteorite impact occurs at an oblique angle of incidence, yet the effect of impact angle on crater size or formation mechanism is only poorly understood. This is, in large part, due to the difficulty of inferring impactor properties, such as size, velocity and trajectory, from observations of natural craters, and the expense and complexity of simulating oblique impacts using numerical models. Laboratory oblique impact experiments and previous numerical models have shown that the portion of the projectile’s kinetic energy that is involved in crater excavation decreases significantly with impact angle. However, a thorough quantification of planetary-scale oblique impact cratering does not exist and the effect of impact angle on crater size is not considered by current scaling laws. To address this gap in understanding, we developed iSALE-3D, a three-dimensional multi-rheology hydrocode, which is efficient enough to perform a large number of well-resolved oblique impact simulations within a reasonable time. Here we present the results of a comprehensive numerical study containing more than 200 three-dimensional hydrocode-simulations covering a broad range of projectile sizes, impact angles and friction coefficients. We show that existing scaling laws in principle describe oblique planetary-scale impact events at angles greater than 30° measured from horizontal. The displaced mass of a crater decreases with impact angle in a sinusoidal manner. However, our results indicate that the assumption that crater size scales with the vertical component of the impact velocity does not hold for materials with a friction coefficient significantly lower than 0.7 (sand). We found that increasing coefficients of friction result in smaller craters and a formation process more controlled by impactor momentum than by energy.

pp. 985-1000 The recent Carancas meteorite impact event caused a worldwide sensation. An H4–5 chondrite struck the Earth south of Lake Titicaca in Peru on September 15, 2007, and formed a crater 14.2 m across. It is the smallest, youngest, and one of two eye-witnessed impact crater events on Earth. The impact violated the hitherto existing view that stony meteorites below a size of 100 m undergo major disruption and deceleration during their passage through the atmosphere and are not capable of producing craters. Fragmentation occurs if the strength of the meteoroid is less than the aerodynamic stresses that occur in flight. The small fragments that result from a breakup rain down at terminal velocity and are not capable of producing impact craters. The Carancas cratering event, however, demonstrates that meter-sized stony meteoroids indeed can survive the atmospheric passage under specific circumstances. We present results of a detailed geologic survey of the crater and its ejecta. To constrain the possible range of impact parameters we carried out numerical models of crater formation with the iSALE hydrocode in two and three dimensions. Depending on the strength properties of the target, the impact energies range between approximately 100–1000 MJ (0.024–0.24 t TNT). By modeling the atmospheric traverse we demonstrate that low cosmic velocities (12–14 kms-1) and shallow entry angles (

Cratering processes on planetary bodies happen continuously and cause the formation of a large variety of impact crater morphologies. On Vesta whose surface has been imaged at high resolution during a 14 months orbital mission by the Dawn spacecraft we identified a substantial number of craters with an asymmetrical shape. These craters, in total a number of 2892 ranging in diameter from 0.3 km to 43 km, are characterized by a sharp crater rim on the uphill side and a smooth one on the downhill side. The formation of these unusual asymmetric impact craters is controlled by Vesta׳s remarkable topographic relief. In order to understand the processes creating such unusual crater forms on a planetary body with a topography like Vesta we carried out the following work packages: (1) the asymmetric craters show various morphologies and therefore can be subdivided into distinct classes by their specific morphologic details; (2) using a digital terrain model (DTM), the craters are grouped into bins of slope angles for further statistical analysis; (3) for a subset of these asymmetric craters, the size-frequency distributions of smaller craters superimposed on their crater floors and continuous ejecta are measured in order to derive cratering model ages for the selected craters and to constrain possible post-impact processes; (4) three-dimensional hydrocode simulations using the iSALE-3D code are applied to the data set in order to quantify the effects of topography on crater shape and ejecta distribution. We identified five different classes (A–E) of asymmetric craters. Primarily, we focus on class A in this work. The global occurrence of these crater classes compared with a slope map clearly shows that these asymmetric crater types exclusively form on slopes. We found that slopes, especially slopes >20°, prevent the deposition of ejected material in the uphill direction, and slumping material superimposed the deposit of ejecta on the downhill side. The combination of these two processes explains the local accumulation of material in this direction. In the subset of asymmetric craters which we used for crater counts, our results show that no post-impact processes have taken place since floors and continuous ejecta in each crater show comparable cratering model ages within the uncertainties of the cratering chronology model. Therefore the formation, or modification, of the asymmetric crater forms by processes other than impact can be excluded with some certainty.

Particle size distribution (PSD) is an often used parameter to describe and quantify fragmentation of deformed rock. Our analyses of shock deformed sandstone show that dynamic fragmentation influences the PSD, expressed as fractal dimension (D-value). Image analysis was used to derive fractal dimensions from a hypervelocity impact cratering experiment (2.5 mm steel sphere, 4.8 km/s) and a planar shock recovery experiment (2.5 GPa). The D-values in the cratering experiment decrease from 1.74 at the crater floor to 0.84 at a distance of 7.2 mm to the crater floor. The D-values found in this experiment are closely related to the microstructural features found at distinct distances from the crater floor. The obtained values are in good agreement with the D-values reported for fault zones, impact sites and deformation experiments. The D-value measured in the shock recovery experiment is 2.42. Such high D-values were usually attributed to abrasive processes related to high strain. Since the strain in our experiment is only ∼23% we suggest that at highly dynamic deformation very high d -values can be reached at small strain. To quantify this, numerical impact modelling has been used to estimate strain rates for the impact experiment. This is related to the activation of more inherent flaws and fracture bifurcation at very high strain rates ∼>102 s−1.

Over the last few decades, rapid improvement of computer capabilities has allowed impact cratering to be modeled with increasing complexity and realism, and has paved the way for a new era of numerical modeling of the impact process, including full, three-dimensional (3D) simulations. When properly benchmarked and validated against observation, computer models offer a powerful tool for understanding the mechanics of impact crater formation. This work presents results from the first phase of a project to benchmark and validate shock codes. A variety of 2D and 3D codes were used in this study, from commercial products like AUTODYN, to codes developed within the scientific community like SOVA, SPH, ZEUS-MP, iSALE, and codes developed at U.S. National Laboratories like CTH, SAGE/RAGE, and ALE3D. Benchmark calculations of shock wave propagation in aluminum-on-aluminum impacts were performed to examine the agreement between codes for simple idealized problems. The benchmark simulations show that variability in code results is to be expected due to differences in the underlying solution algorithm of each code, artificial stability parameters, spatial and temporal resolution, and material models. Overall, the inter-code variability in peak shock pressure as a function of distance is around 10 to 20%. In general, if the impactor is resolved by at least 20 cells across its radius, the underestimation of peak shock pressure due to spatial resolution is less than 10%. In addition to the benchmark tests, three validation tests were performed to examine the ability of the codes to reproduce the time evolution of crater radius and depth observed in vertical laboratory impacts in water and two well-characterized aluminum alloys. Results from these calculations are in good agreement with experiments. There appears to be a general tendency of shock physics codes to underestimate the radius of the forming crater. Overall, the discrepancy between the model and experiment results is between 10 and 20%, similar to the inter-code variability.