Modeling and Experimental Validation for Hammer-Driven Type Penetrators under Horizontal Condition

Abstract

This paper proposed a method used to analyze the motion of hammer-driven type penetrators and built a testbed for validating the result of structure optimization of the penetrator in deep space exploration. This method gave a clear understanding of the working principle of the penetrator. The penetrator mainly comprises five components: hammer element, suppressor element, housing element, brake spring, and force spring. Based on the structure of the penetrator, the maximum forward movement of housing element was chosen as optimal object. In order to describe the working process clearly and properly, the working stroke was divided into three phases: unlocking phase, colliding phase, and penetrating phase. In each phase, the displacement and velocity of hammer element, suppressor element, and housing element were described with equation sets when numerically solved. Then, the corresponding parameters of the penetrator were obtained in the testbed with high-speed camera. At last, comparing the parameters obtained by theoretical analysis with that obtained by experiment test with high-speed camera, the perfect ratio of mass element (hammer element, suppressor element, and housing element) and perfect ratio of stiffness of spring element (brake spring and force spring) were obtained.