Numerical model of the Chelyabinsk meteoroid as a strengthless object

V. Shuvalov, V. Svetsov, O. Popova, D. Glazachev

Planetary and Space Science
In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 29 May 2017

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“Highlights
• The entry of Chelyabinsk meteoroid is considered in the frame of quasi-liquid (QL) model.
• The QL model provides satisfactory agreement with Chelyabinsk airbust observational data.
• Vertical entry of Chelyabinsk-like body causes only moderate increase of overpressure on the ground.
• The effects of almost all hazardous impacts of comets and asteroids can be evaluated by QL model.”

“The extraordinary Chelyabinsk airburst of 15 February 2013 is considered in the frame of quasi-liquid model (QL model), in which the entering body is treated as a strengthless quasi-liquid object, and its deformation and the flow are described by the hydrodynamic equations. Despite the QL model was originally proposed to model the impacts of the cosmic objects, which size is larger than a few tens of meters, the model predicts overpressure and radiation distributions on the ground in reasonable agreement with observational data for Chelyabinsk event. This model can be used for assessment of impact hazards for the whole range of dangerous cosmic objects. The influence of entry angle on surface effects is considered.