High pressure composite tank behaviour under an hypervelocity impact

Space debris represent a threat to spacecraft in near earth orbits and protection against them is a key requirement for the Space Station. Thus, regulations are being issued in order to prevent new debris generation from a spacecraft which can be impacted by a debris. Due to their risk of burst, pressurized vessels are classified as critical components, and high pressure composite overwrapped vessels are considered as specially critical. Furthermore, the design of a protection device is closely depending of the behaviour of the vessel under impact. CNES has started a R&D action in order to characterize the behaviour of a high pressure composite vessel under an hypervelocity impact. This study is managed by EADS/Launch vehicles in collaboration with Nice Sciences University and INSA Toulouse. The pressure vessel considered is an over-wrapped carbon fibre on a titanium liner loaded with xenon or helium under high pressure (15 Mpa or 31 Mpa). In a first phase, the theoretical approach to predict the tank behaviour consists in a 2D and 3D simulation using a SPH code (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics). An experimental validation of the numerical model will be conducted in the future.