On Limiting the Lateral Expansion of the Cloud of Fragments of a Destroyed Meteoroid

The motion and ablation of a meteoroid breaking up into a large number of fragments are considered. At the first stage, the fragments move with a common shock wave, before dispersing to a distance sufficient for independent motion. We consider models of cloud of fragments that simulate the meteoroid disruption at this stage: the two-parameter model, which takes into account changes in the cloud shape and density, and simple models used in the literature that do not take these effects into account. The models differ in the equations for the lateral expansion rate of the cloud. The unrealistically strong increase in the midsection radius, which is given by simple models, is usually limited in the literature to a certain specified value. The effect of this midsection radius cutoff in different fragment cloud models on the results of modeling the energy deposition of the Chelyabinsk superbolide is studied. For this purpose, the equations of the physical theory of meteors are solved numerically using the same ablation model developed by the authors for different fragmentation models. The influence of the heat transfer coefficient on the energy deposition of the bolide obtained using different fragment cloud models and the applicability of these models are studied.