Issue |
A&A
Volume 650, June 2021
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A101 | |
Number of page(s) | 16 | |
Section | Numerical methods and codes | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202140305 | |
Published online | 14 June 2021 |
Three dimensional atmospheric entry simulation of a high altitude cometary dustball meteoroid
Institute of Fluid Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Sonneggstrasse 3, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
e-mail: lorenz.hulfeld@gmail.com
Received:
9
January
2021
Accepted:
7
April
2021
Aims. The break-up of a dustball meteoroid is investigated numerically based on fluid dynamics simulations of the meteoroid’s atmospheric entry flow. Both thermal and mechanical break-up mechanisms are implemented, in order to investigate dustball meteoroid disintegration.
Methods. A three dimensional model of a dustball meteoroid composed of thousands of small spherical grains was used in the atmospheric entry flow simulation, performed with the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. The dynamics of each meteoroid grain were calculated by means of the discrete element method (DEM), which models contact dynamics between grains. By coupling DEM with DSMC, the dynamics of a dustball meteoroid were calculated during atmospheric entry. In addition, thermal computations were also carried out taking into account the incoming atmospheric heat flux, thermal radiation, and grain ablation. Thus, this methodology is able to compute mechanical as well as thermal dustball meteoroid disintegration.
Results. To test this novel multi-physics simulation framework, a prototypical dustball meteoroid, namely a Draconid meteoroid, was simulated. Using typical material properties from the literature, the Draconid meteoroid was compressed due to aerodynamic forces to roughly half its size immediately after the start of the simulation at 200 km altitude. Later, aerodynamic-induced meteoroid rotation occured until the meteoroid disintegrated mechanically at 120 km altitude. The fact that the meteoroid disintegrated mechanically is directly related to the combination of material properties used in the simulation.
Key words: meteorites, meteors, meteoroids / methods: miscellaneous
© ESO 2021
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