The present thesis provides a description of historical and current modeling methods with recent discoveries within the ablation community. Several historical assumptions are challenged, namely the presence of water in Thermal Protection System (TPS) materials, presence of coking in TPS materials, non-uniform elemental production during pyrolysis reactions, and boundary layer gases, more specifically oxygen, interactions with the charred carbon interface. The first topic assess the potential effect that water has when present within the ablator by examining the temperature prole histories of the recent flight case Mars Science Laboratory. The next topic uses experimental data to consider the instantaneous gas species produced as the ablator pyrolyzes. In this study, key gas species are identified and assumed to be unstable within the gas phase; thus, equilibrating to the solid phase. This topic investigates the potential effects due to the these process. The finial topic uses a simplified configuration to study the role of carbon oxidation, from diatomic oxygen, on the ablation modes of a TPS, surface versus volumetric ablation. Although each of these topics differ in their own right, a common theme is found by understanding the role that common pyrolysis and boundary layer gases species have as they interacts with the porous TPS structure. The main objective of the present thesis is to investigate these questions.

Modeling the atmospheric entry of spacecraft is challenging because of the large number of physical phenomena that occur during the process. In order to study thermal protection systems, engineers rely on high fidelity solvers to provide accurate predictions of both the thermochemical environment surrounding the heat shield, and its material response. Therefore, it is necessary to guarantee that the numerical models are correctly implemented and thoroughly validated. In recent years, a high-fidelity modeling tool has been developed at the University of Kentucky for the purpose of studying atmospheric entry. The objective of this work is to verify and validate this code. The verification consists of the development of an automated regression testing utility. It is intended to both aid code developers in the debugging process, as well as verify the correct implementation of the numerical models as these are developed. The validation process will be performed through comparison to relevant ablation experiments, namely arc-jet tests. Two modules of the code are used: fluid dynamics, and material response. First the fluid dynamics module is verified against both computational and experimental data on two distinct arc-jet tests. The material response module is then validated against arc-jet test data using PICA.

During hypersonic atmospheric entry, spacecraft are exposed to enormous aerodynamic heat. To prevent the payload from overheating, charring ablative materials are favored to be applied as the heat shield at the exposing surface of the vehicle. Accurate modeling not only prevents mission failures, but also helps reduce cost. Existing models were mostly limited to one-dimensional and discrepancies were shown against measured experiments and flight-data. To help improve the models and analyze the charring ablation problems, a multidimensional material response module is developed, based on a finite volume method framework. The developed computer program is verified through a series of test-cases, and through code-to-code comparisons with a validated code. Several novel models are proposed, including a three-dimensional pyrolysis gas transport model and an orthotropic material model. The effects of these models are numerically studied and demonstrated to be significant.

No description available.

Le composite HexTOOL TM à base de la matrice bismaléimide renforcé par des fibres de carbone fait partie d’une famille de matériaux composites récemment utilisés pour des applications à haute température. Vu la part croissante de l’utilisation de ce matériau dans les domaines industriels, il est inconcevable de ne pas s’intéresser aux endommagements (fissuration et usure…), engendrés par des sollicitations de contact, en particulier vis-à-vis de matériaux métalliques. L’une des sources de ces endommagements est associée aux vibrations apparaissant lors de sollicitations de petits débattements (fretting).L’objectif de ce travail est de développer une méthodologie expérimentale, permettant d’expertiser le comportement à long terme en fretting du composite HexTOOL TM. Deux résultats essentiels sont mis en avant au cours de cette étude. Le premier concerne l’étude de l’endommagement de la matrice bismaléimide (BMI). Pour cela, les conditions d’amorçage et de propagation des fissures ainsi que l’usure ont été analysées en fonction des conditions de sollicitation locale. Le deuxième résultat est le développement d’une stratégie d’analyse de l’usure du composite HexTOOL TM. L’orientation locale des fibres a une influence notable sur le phénomène de l’usure du composite. Des essais effectués sous des niveaux de force normale et des conditions de température différentes ont mis en évidence une meilleure résistance à l’usure dans les zones où les fibres sont parallèles à la direction de glissement. En outre, des essais menés en fonction de la température ont montré l’influence de la matrice et du troisième corps sur la cinétique d’usure. / Carbon fibre/bismaleimide composite or HexTOOL TM is one of a family of composite materials recently developed for high temperature applications. Given the increasing use of this material in industrial fields, it is interesting to study damage (cracking and wear ...), caused by contact stresses, in particular in the contact with metallic materials. One source of this damage is associated to vibration occurring when a small displacement amplitude oscillatory motion is conducted (fretting). The objective of this work is to develop an experimental methodology, allowing the analyzing of the long-term behavior of composite HexTOOLTM under fretting conditions.Two main results are put ahead during this research. The first concerns the study of damage of the bismaleimide matrix. Two types of damage, depending on local stress conditions: the Cracking and Wear, were analyzed. These experimental data conditions were used for the fretting maps to better visualize the behavior of the composite matrix. The second result is the development of a wear analysis strategy of the composite HexTOOLTM. Influence of the local fibre orientation on the wear kinetics of composite is here presented. Tests performed under constant normal force and different temperature conditions show the best wear resistant performance of composite with parallel fibre orientation to the sliding direction. In addition, the influence of the matrix behaviour (viscous response) and the third body on the wear is shown.

Der Vortrag beschreibt wie sich mittels der unterschiedlichen Berechnungsverfahren zur Lösung dynamischer Strukturpobleme der Einschlag eines idealisierten Bruchstücks in eine Schutzwand berechnen lässt. Dies wird mittels zweier kommerzieller FEM-Programme beschrieben: a.) Creo Simulate nutzt zur Lösung die Methode der modalen Superposition, d.h., es können nur lineare dynamische Systeme mit rein modaler Dämpfung berechnet werden. Kontakt zwischen zwei Bauteilen lässt sich damit nicht erfassen. Die unbekannte Kraft-Zeit-Funktion des Einschlagvorganges muss also geeignet abgeschätzt und als äußere Last auf die Schutzwand aufgebracht werden. Je dynamischer der Einschlagvorgang, desto eher wird der Gültigkeitsbereich des zugrunde liegenden linearen Modells verlassen. b.) Abaqus/Explicit nutzt ein direktes Zeitintegrationsverfahren zur schrittweisen Lösung der zugrunde liegenden Differentialgleichung, die keine tangentiale Steifigkeitsmatrix benötigt. Damit können sowohl Materialnichtlinearitäten als auch Kontakt geeignet erfasst und damit die Kraft-Zeit-Funktion des Einschlages ermittelt werden. Auch bei extrem hochdynamischen Vorgängen liefert diese Methode ein gutes Ergebnis. Es müssen dafür jedoch weit mehr Werkstoffdaten bekannt sein, um das nichtlineare elasto-plastische Materialverhalten mit Schädigungseffekten korrekt zu beschreiben. Die Schwierigkeiten der Werkstoffdatenbestimmung werden in den Grundlagen erläutert. / The presentation describes how to analyze the impact of an idealized fragment into a stell protective panel with different dynamic analysis methods. Two different commercial Finite Element codes are used for this: a.) Creo Simulate: This code uses the method of modal superposition for analyzing the dynamic response of linear dynamic systems. Therefore, only modal damping and no contact can be used. The unknown force-vs.-time curve of the impact event cannot be computed, but must be assumed and applied as external force to the steel protective panel. As more dynamic the impact, as sooner the range of validity of the underlying linear model is left. b.) Abaqus/Explicit: This code uses a direct integration method for an incremental (step by step) solution of the underlying differential equation, which does not need a tangential stiffness matrix. In this way, matieral nonlinearities as well as contact can be obtained as one result of the FEM analysis. Even for extremely high-dynamic impacts, good results can be obtained. But, the nonlinear elasto-plastic material behavior with damage initiation and damage evolution must be characterized with a lot of effort. The principal difficulties of the material characterization are described.

Der Vortrag beschreibt wie sich mittels der unterschiedlichen Berechnungsverfahren zur Lösung dynamischer Strukturpobleme der Einschlag eines idealisierten Bruchstücks in eine Schutzwand berechnen lässt. Dies wird mittels zweier kommerzieller FEM-Programme beschrieben: a.) Creo Simulate nutzt zur Lösung die Methode der modalen Superposition, d.h., es können nur lineare dynamische Systeme mit rein modaler Dämpfung berechnet werden. Kontakt zwischen zwei Bauteilen lässt sich damit nicht erfassen. Die unbekannte Kraft-Zeit-Funktion des Einschlagvorganges muss also geeignet abgeschätzt und als äußere Last auf die Schutzwand aufgebracht werden. Je dynamischer der Einschlagvorgang, desto eher wird der Gültigkeitsbereich des zugrunde liegenden linearen Modells verlassen. b.) Abaqus/Explicit nutzt ein direktes Zeitintegrationsverfahren zur schrittweisen Lösung der zugrunde liegenden Differentialgleichung, die keine tangentiale Steifigkeitsmatrix benötigt. Damit können sowohl Materialnichtlinearitäten als auch Kontakt geeignet erfasst und damit die Kraft-Zeit-Funktion des Einschlages ermittelt werden. Auch bei extrem hochdynamischen Vorgängen liefert diese Methode ein gutes Ergebnis. Es müssen dafür jedoch weit mehr Werkstoffdaten bekannt sein, um das nichtlineare elasto-plastische Materialverhalten mit Schädigungseffekten korrekt zu beschreiben. Die Schwierigkeiten der Werkstoffdatenbestimmung werden in den Grundlagen erläutert. / The presentation describes how to analyze the impact of an idealized fragment into a stell protective panel with different dynamic analysis methods. Two different commercial Finite Element codes are used for this: a.) Creo Simulate: This code uses the method of modal superposition for analyzing the dynamic response of linear dynamic systems. Therefore, only modal damping and no contact can be used. The unknown force-vs.-time curve of the impact event cannot be computed, but must be assumed and applied as external force to the steel protective panel. As more dynamic the impact, as sooner the range of validity of the underlying linear model is left. b.) Abaqus/Explicit: This code uses a direct integration method for an incremental (step by step) solution of the underlying differential equation, which does not need a tangential stiffness matrix. In this way, matieral nonlinearities as well as contact can be obtained as one result of the FEM analysis. Even for extremely high-dynamic impacts, good results can be obtained. But, the nonlinear elasto-plastic material behavior with damage initiation and damage evolution must be characterized with a lot of effort. The principal difficulties of the material characterization are described.