UC San Diego

A strain rate sensitive ice material model for hail ice impact simulation has been developed using previously measured ice compressive strength at impact strain rates. Simulations were conducted in Abaqus/Explicit and were compared to experimental tests of simulated hail ice impacts on a force measurement bar apparatus. The force history during the ice impact event studied shows agreement between the simulation results and the experimental data. The overall trend of peak force versus kinetic energy was also compared, showing a strong correlation. The scatter in the measured ice compressive strength data was incorporated in the modeling approach and was found to represent the scatter in the sphere impact experimental test data. Observations of the failure progression of simulated hail impact were made using high speed video images during impact tests. The simulation- predicted failure progression was found to qualitatively match with the failure behavior exhibited by actual ice spheres, thereby indicating that the model represents some of the basic physics and phenomena that govern ice impacts