Atmospheric disintegration of irregular-shaped meteoroids with sintered discrete element model
Ziwen Li, Qingbo Gan, Xiangyuan Zeng
MAPS, First published: 12 April 2026
“How the internal structure of meteoroids affects their atmospheric disintegration remains an unsolved problem. This study develops a sintered discrete element model to simulate the disintegration cascades of heterogeneous and irregular meteoroids from a dynamical perspective. Each sintered bond connects two granules in contact, and loops formed by bond networks are identified to determine the internal stress distribution. The strength of the bond is derived from the relative positions, radii, and material properties of granules. Disintegration occurs when the local stress exceeds the bond strength, enabling physics-based tracking of structural evolution. The model also incorporates the release of strain energy and the detonation effects of ablation products, explaining the mechanism governing the high lateral velocities of fragments. Applied to the Morávka meteoroid, the new model reproduces the observed disintegration sequence of its fragment P1 using six granules. Parametric analyses further reveal how variations in initial attitude, structure, and mass distribution influence disintegration dynamics. The results advance the understanding of meteoroid disintegration beyond conventional homogeneous-sphere models.”
