Experimental hypervelocity impact into quartz sand. II - Effects of gravitational acceleration

Abstract

Experimental results for craters formed by aluminum spheres impacting at normal incidence against quartz sand targets in gravitational acceleration environments ranging from 0.073 to 1.0 g (g = 980 cm/sq sec) are reported. Impact velocities varied from 0.4 to 8.0 km/sec. Crater dimensions and formation times are compared with results from a simplified dimensional analysis of the cratering processes. Although the comparison indicates a dominant role of gravity relative to the target strength for craters formed in sand, the results serve primarily to emphasize that both gravity and strength are variables of fundamental significance to cratering processes.