Laboratory impacts into dry and wet sandstone with and without an overlying water layer: Implications for scaling laws and projectile survivability

Abstract

Scaling laws describing crater dimensions are defined in terms of projectile velocity and mass, densities of the material involved,strength of the target, and the local gravity. Here, the additional importance of target porosity and saturation, and an overlying water layer, are considered through 15 laboratory impacts of 1 mm diameter stainless steel projectiles at 5 km s^(-1) into a) an initially uncharacterized sandstone (porosity ~17%) and b) Coconino Sandstone (porosity ~23%). The higher-porosity dry sandstone allows a crater to form with a larger diameter but smaller depth than in the lower-porosity dry sandstone. Furthermore, for both porosities, a greater volume of material is excavated from a wet target than a dry target (by 27-30%). Comparison of our results with Pi-scaling (dimensionless ratios of key parameters characterizing cratering data over a range of scales) suggests that porosity is important for scaling laws given that the new data lie significantly beneath the current fit for ice and rock targets on a pi-v versus pi-3 plot (pi-v gives cratering efficiency and pi-3 the influence of target strength). An overlying water layer results in a reduction of crater dimensions, with larger craters produced in the saturated targets compared to unsaturated targets. A water depth of approximately 12 times the projectile diameter is required before craters are no longer observed in the targets. Previous experimental studies have shown that this ratio varies between 10 and 20 (Gault and Sonett 1982). In our experiments ~25% of the original projectile mass survives the impact.