Simulation of Forced Korteweg De Vries Equation as Applied to Small Orbital Debris
Simulation of Forced Korteweg De Vries Equation as Applied to Small Orbital Debris
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Date
2020
Authors
Truitt, Alexis
Advisor
Hartzell, Christine
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Abstract
Sub-centimeter orbital debris is currently undetectable using ground-based radar and
optical methods. However, pits in Space Shuttle windows produced by paint chips
demonstrate that small debris can cause serious damage to spacecraft. Recent analytical,
computational and experimental work has shown that charged objects moving quickly
through a plasma will cause the formation of plasma density solitary waves, or solitons.
Due to their exposure to the solar wind plasma environment, even the smallest space
debris will be charged. Depending on the debris size, charge and velocity, debris may
produce plasma solitons that propagate along the debris velocity vector and could be
detected with existing sensor technology.
Notes
This code uses the Chan & Kerkhoven pseudospectral method to solve the Forced
Korteweg-de Vries equation to simulate solitons that may be produced by mm-cm scale
orbital debris, as a function of the debris’ size, velocity, and location (altitude, latitude,
longitude) about Earth. The Damped Forced Korteweg-de Vries equation is solved to
calculate the damping rate of the solitons, and estimate the resulting soliton propagation
distance. Finally, the Damped Forced Kadomtsev-Petviashvili Equation is solved to
simulate transverse solitonic perturbations across the width of the debris.
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Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/