Dynamics of shallow impact cratering
Abstract
We present data for the time-dependence of wooden spheres penetrating into a loose non-cohesive packing of glass beads. The stopping time is a factor of three longer than the time d/v needed to travel the total penetration distance d at the impact speed v. The acceleration decreases monotonically throughout the impact. These kinematics are modelled by a position- and velocity-dependent stopping force that is constrained to reproduce prior observations for the scaling of the penetration depth with the total drop distance.
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