A new equation of state applied to planetary impacts: I. Models of planetary interiors

Abstract

We present a new analytical equation of state (EOS), which correctly models high pressure theory and fits well to the experimental data of E-Fe, SiO2, Mg2SiO4, and the Earth. The cold part of the EOS is modeled after the Varpoly EOS. The thermal part is based on a new formalism of the Gruneisen parameter, which improves behavior from earlier models and bridges the gap between elasticity and thermoelasticity. The EOS includes an expanded state model, which allows for the accurate modeling of material vapor curves. The EOS is compared to both the Tillotson EOS and ANEOS model, which are both widely used in planetary impact simulations. The complexity and cost of the EOS is similar to that of the Tillotson EOS, while showing improved behavior in every aspect. The Hugoniot state of shocked silicate material is captured relatively well and our model reproduces vapor curves similar to that of the ANEOS model. To test its viability in hydrodynamical simulations, the EOS was applied to the lunar-forming impact scenario and the results are presented in Paper II and show good agreement with previous work.