Meteoroid fragments dynamics: Collimation effect

There is significant evidence that some fraction of meteoric bodies is destroyed in the atmosphere. The evolution of the fragment cloud depends on a large number of factors, amound them: the meteoroid’s altitude and velocity at the moment of greakup, fragment sizes and properties of a body material. The interaction of shock waves forming in front of the fragments may lead to both an increase and decrease of the midsection area of the fragment cloud (Artem’eva & Shuvalov, 1996; Laurence et al., 2007). In this work, we consider the interaction of the fragments in a supersonic flow. The configuration properties of two spherical bodies of different radii are considered. Via numerical simulations, we calculate the pressure distribution in the flow around the two bodies for different relative positions. We construct the functions of the coefficients of transverse and drag forces from the angle between the central line of the two bodies and the flow direction for different distances between the two fragments. We find the conditions for the collimation effect, i.e., fragment involving into the wake of the leading (usually, the largest) fragment. We systematize the simulation results for drag and transverse forces and infer the basic aerodynamic properties of the meteoroid fragments.