In situ quantitative monitoring of hypervelocity impact combining resistive film and two-layer acoustic emission sensing methods

Abstract

In-orbit spacecraft face serious threats from hypervelocity impact (HVI) caused by the space debris and meteoroids. In this paper, a two-layer sensing system is proposed to achieve in situ quantitative monitoring of HVI induced by the space debris. The two-layer sensing system consists of a PI-Cu membrane and an aluminum plate, in which the resistive strain sensing and two-layer acoustic emission (AE) sensing methods are integrated. Firstly, a time delay-multiplication (TDM) probability imaging algorithm with the compensation of acoustic velocity anisotropy is proposed, enabling the localization of projectile impacts on the PI-Cu membrane and aluminum plate based on the acoustic emission sensing method. Secondly, an evaluation method for impact angle and velocity is developed using the localization results from the two-layer target structure and the time of arrival data. Finally, by the numerical simulations combining smoothed particle hydrodynamics and finite element method (SPH-FEM), the relationship between projectile size and the major axis of the impact perforation is formulated through curve fitting. Using the number of broken resistive wires as input, a method for assessing projectile size is proposed. Experimental validation shows the proposed monitoring system, which combines the resistive sensing and two-layer AE sensing, could contribute to the in situ quantitative monitoring of the space debris distribution and spacecraft damage caused by HVI.