Some recent advances in the scaling of impact and explosion cratering

Abstract The geotechnical centrifuge is a valuable experimental tool for studying impact and explosion craters. Performing experiments at elevated gravity effectively allows one to simulate crater formation at much larger scales than those otherwise attainable in the lab. The utility of the centrifuge has been demonstrated by successful simulations of explosive field tests with charges equivalent to a few kilotons of TNT. Impact experiments conducted on the centrifuge have provided measurements of final crater size, growth of the transient crater, formation time and material motions. These observations have been analyzed within the framework of a recently-developed theory of source coupling, which relates many aspects of crater formation through a single exponent. For example, the scaling of crater growth and formation time are found to be consistent with that one would predict from the observations of final crater size. The results are summarized and applied to develop improved estimates for scaling laws appropriate to the impacts of large bolides on planetary surfaces.

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